refinish teak

[jmbloecher]

I have been on here a few times now and really appericate all the help. I bought a 88 saltare that needs just a little work. I was going to tackle the all the teak on the boat right now and was wondering if anyone could tell me what products work the best. All the wood on this boat hasn't been taken care of and needs alot of work. I would love to return all the teak to its ordinal form. Any help would be greatly appericated I can post some pics as well.

[tallnfast]

what i did was...

strip it with a chemical (i had polyurethane on mine)
then sand with sander, then hand sand
then clean with teak cleaner/brightner (makes a difference)
two coats of Siemens teak oil (some of the best i was told)
then lightly took low grit steel wool over all of it
wiped with cloth
then one final coat with the oil
use a cloth, not a brush, brushes leave bubbles
good luck, enjoy....it is a long, and tedious process.

Oh yeah, if your boat is anything like mine, there is a lot of teak, remove it all, so much easier, then you can invest in new ss hardware to make it really pop!

[sybrmike]

I followed the recommendation from a post here for the oiling part (do a search & I'm sure you'll find it).

My platform was severely neglected - the wood was almost white & soft like balsa. I used Starbrite cleaner, then sanded with 200 then 400. Then liberally ragged on 4 coats of a varying turpentine/teak oil mixture:
1st: 75% turpentine, 25% teak oil
2nd: 50/50
3rd: 25/75
4th: 100 teak oil
Let each coat soak in for a day or so, before the next. Supposedly the early coats help the teak oil really penetrate (mine soaked it up like a sponge) so it holds up longer between refinishing (have to wait & see on that one), but now my platform is gorgeous, almost rock hard, and feels 50% heavier.

[wotan2525]

I'm sure it depends on just how far gone your platform is -- I've never done more than hit mine with a wire (brass) brush to open it up a little bit and then liberally apply teak oil. It soaks it right up and keeps it looking great!

[mapleleaf]

I followed the recommendation from a post here for the oiling part (do a search & I'm sure you'll find it).

My platform was severely neglected - the wood was almost white & soft like balsa. I used Starbrite cleaner, then sanded with 200 then 400. Then liberally ragged on 4 coats of a varying turpentine/teak oil mixture:
1st: 75% turpentine, 25% teak oil
2nd: 50/50
3rd: 25/75
4th: 100 teak oil
Let each coat soak in for a day or so, before the next. Supposedly the early coats help the teak oil really penetrate (mine soaked it up like a sponge) so it holds up longer between refinishing (have to wait & see on that one), but now my platform is gorgeous, almost rock hard, and feels 50% heavier.

I'll be interested to see how long it lasts before it needs refinishing, that technique sounds familiar!!! Though I never used it on a swim platform....

[Salty87]

if i were you, i'd start with the starbrite kit and see if you like the results. it's super easy for how good it works...cheap too. cheap, quick, and easy....you've got a winner. you can always sand later if you don't like the results. sanding won't help prevent fading anyway.

use a fairly stiff brush and it will work even better.

[jmbloecher]

Thanks for the help I am starting the process this weekend.

[chautauquasun]

I will make another suggestion. My boat also had teak that was neglected. I cleaned it using the two part teak cleaner that works well to draw the oil out and brings it back to it's original look. You will find that the cleaner will draw the grain up and it will have little hair like fibers that will stick up in some cases. Use a brass pot scrubber and lightly said to remove this.

Rather than use teak oil I would recommend another product. You can oil it but you will find that within two to three weeks in the sun it will begin to fade and not look good and you will then have to keep oiling it. I used a product called Sikkens teak refinisher. I got it West Marine. I used the light golden color. It is a cross between a varnish and urathane. The guy at west marine said it will last 3-5 years. I discovered the product after I had oiled some of the parts. So it gave me a good comparison. The sikkens held up all year and still looks great. The oiled teak looks terrible again. The swim platform that got a lot of wear and tear also held up well and it is exposed to the elements all year. I will probably put a new coat on for the summer. It still looks good and probably does really nEed it but I am a perfectionist.

The product is very easy to use. It goes on with very light coats. I used a nylon scrub sponge...the blue and green kind you use to do dishes to sand each coat to take out the imperfections and any bumps.

I think I may have some pics posted in the picture section and there still should be some threads out there that I posted with the project.

Good luck.

[sybrmike]

I don't have any experience with Sikkens in marine apps, but my folks used a Sikkens product to seal the exterior of their lap&gap rough cedar house. It's held up great for 15 years.

I was going to go that route, but my teak was sooo dry I wanted to try & restore the oils in it first. Depending on how it holds up, I may switch to Sikkens when the time comes.

[wotan2525]

Did the sikkens make the swim deck slipprey?