TEAK Love/hate relationship

[Thumbs Up]

Here are some of my teak grab rails, I think that they came out nice.

[Muckle Flugga]

Originally Posted by Exile

...
As for leaving it natural and doing nothing, I would only worry about that option on my toerails, and only then because the thru-bolts for the hull deck joint pass through. I worry that, if left alone, the bare teak will wear to the point that the teak plugs will pop off, followed by potential water ingress. ...

Well here's my decks after replacement, with new, deep teak toerails replacing the original aluminium. I replaced the handrails also, but the originals had nearly a quarter century with no varnish and no problems. I do not intend to varnish any of this. Teak wears pretty slowly really, and the tops of a caprail or toerail are not particularly high wear areas. If the plugs are fairly deep, it should be no issue, as it was not on my old handrails, either.

[Muckle Flugga]

Originally Posted by Exile

...

As for leaving it natural and doing nothing, I would only worry about that option on my toerails, and only then because the thru-bolts for the hull deck joint pass through. I worry that, if left alone, the bare teak will wear to the point that the teak plugs will pop off, followed by potential water ingress. ....

One more thing, outside the cockpit the only teak that I have not touched at all and is 100% good after a quarter century, outside the cockpit, is that in the 10cm wide (at amidships) rubbing strakes down her sides. These, which I find work superbly as stabilisers in a rough, side sweeping seaway, and take a lot of wave impacts thereby, have survived untreated and as original, and I have no reason whatever to think they won't happily make it to a half century, untouched… so bodes well for the toerails, really.

If I were a quarter way as skilled as Minaret at thse kinds of things, I would likely pick out a bit more brightwork on deck. I certainly love the look of his rails!

[HappyMdRSailor]

Originally Posted by Exile

Yeah, after those mirror finish hand rail pics I'm suddenly liking Minaret less too. Until he posts more of those pics, that is.

FWIW... I find it's best to wear big "hollywood" sunglasses when viewing minaret's work... Not only does it protect your eyes from the extreme mirror reflection they couldn't duplicate on the Hubble Telescope... But they do a fair job of hiding the tears welling in your eyes of jealousy...

Fwiw, things started going easier for me when I accepted the fact that whatever you put on will be coming off at some point.

So I started out with a two-part urethane, thinking I'd improve on the cycle.

2 part was mistake city for me too... I was only about 15% miffed when purchasing an $80 quart kit... But made that full circle to cartoon steam ears when it had to come off...
. . . .

Originally Posted by Blue Crab

Minaret is a RESIN HEAD!

We'll stick with "resin" as to continue to conform to the guidelines of CF posting rules...

Originally Posted by zboss

Run... Mineret.....RUN!

I'm slightly worried about what "remaking" meant too...

Originally Posted by minaret

Why would you think Awlgrip only comes in one color? You can get any color you like, and it lasts much longer than enamel. Looks much nicer too. I don't think painting brown is necessarily the way to go, you have to be adventurous and mix it up for eye popping results. I painted my cap rails Seattle Gray (custom Awlgrip color) to offset my Whisper Gray nonskid and Claret quarter deck stripe. I think this looks much nicer than brown. If I was going to go for faux wood effect, I would do so old school with several colors of Awlcraft and a turkey feather to paint on the wood grain (have done much sponge wash, rag rolling, dragging, stippling, porphry, faux wood, even faux marble), followed by clear coat (Awlbrite) and a polish. This would give the worlds most expensive, longest lasting, nicest looking faux teak finish. Sure would require patience and $ though!

PS: for me the secret to eye popping trim color combos is taking some shots of the boat from different angles and then photoshopping the images into different colors. This allows you to make color combo suggestions to a client along with printed sample images. Takes a lot of the gamble out of it. It's sad when you do a 20k paint job and the client doesn't love the colors they picked full size.

Dood... I'm simply at a loss for words here... The rest of us have been been lapped by you a hundred or so times... And still we get a maniacal smile on our faces when we pick up a miniscule draft as you're screaming past us again pulling us along for a few feet...

I think this time you may have gone over the top... I thought I was slightly sophisticated knowing that "claret" is a red wine from the Bordeaux region, and combined with "jug" those fancy silver things winners hold above their heads on podiums I will never step foot on...

Originally Posted by Thumbs Up

Here are some of my teak grab rails, I think that they came out nice.

Three thumbs up for Thumbs up!

Nice job...

Originally Posted by Muckle Flugga

Well here's my decks after replacement, with new, deep teak toerails replacing the original aluminium. I replaced the handrails also, but the originals had nearly a quarter century with no varnish and no problems. I do not intend to varnish any of this. Teak wears pretty slowly really, and the tops of a caprail or toerail are not particularly high wear areas. If the plugs are fairly deep, it should be no issue, as it was not on my old handrails, either.

Dang Muckle... She looks sweet!

[Blue Crab]

I almost tried Cetol 'til I noticed it's made by Sickens, which is how that orange colour (a nod to Brit-ish readers) makes me feel.

[Muckle Flugga]

Dang Muckle... She looks sweet!
[/QUOTE]

Thanks mate. Was a beast of a process. Could only afford to get it done in Thailand, as in more developed countries price is x5 or so. I still did all the prep work and rebuild after, just not a real wood craftsman, as there are some true artists over here who still work miracles for little. Couldn't be happier with the outcome, but was a brutal 4 months work for me in the boatyard. Brutal especially as I sweat fast enough to make rainbows doing boatyard work in this climate…

[minaret]

Originally Posted by Muckle Flugga

Dang Muckle... She looks sweet!

[/QUOTE]Thanks mate. Was a beast of a process. Could only afford to get it done in Thailand, as in more developed countries price is x5 or so. I still did all the prep work and rebuild after, just not a real wood craftsman, as there are some true artists over here who still work miracles for little. Couldn't be happier with the outcome, but was a brutal 4 months work for me in the boatyard. Brutal especially as I sweat fast enough to make rainbows doing boatyard work in this climate…[/QUOTE]



Thought that looked like a Thai deck job. Just doesn't have that plantation teak look. Very nice!

[Blue Crab]

Thought that looked like a Thai deck job. Just doesn't have that plantation teak look. Very nice!


"... Plantation teak now exists as far afield as Indonesia, Africa and the Caribbean, but typically grows quickly due to overly wet climates, and so is comparatively soft and liable to crack. The best Burmese teak, by contrast, is richer in natural oils and dries out for around eight or nine months of the year, sometimes taking up to 20 years for one inch of growth. “For the real good teak there’s only one thing, and that’s the Burma teak,” says Steber. While plantation teak is adequate for garden furniture, picture frames and assorted curios, natural teak is essential for luxury yachts, as the oils repel water and keeps the wood from cracking. “And teak has silica — sand — in it so you don’t slip and fall when its wet,” says Steber. “It really is amazing.” Burma: Log Ban Great for Forests, but Puts Timber Elephants at Risk

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Muckle Flugga

Well here's my decks after replacement, with new, deep teak toerails replacing the original aluminium. I replaced the handrails also, but the originals had nearly a quarter century with no varnish and no problems. I do not intend to varnish any of this. Teak wears pretty slowly really, and the tops of a caprail or toerail are not particularly high wear areas. If the plugs are fairly deep, it should be no issue, as it was not on my old handrails, either.

Gorgeous! Looks like a good excuse to sail to Thailand.

What's the thickness of the planks? Are they glued down, or did you use screws as on the original? Do they have CNC machines down there to cut the planks?

[Exile]

Originally Posted by Muckle Flugga

Well here's my decks after replacement, with new, deep teak toerails replacing the original aluminium. I replaced the handrails also, but the originals had nearly a quarter century with no varnish and no problems. I do not intend to varnish any of this. Teak wears pretty slowly really, and the tops of a caprail or toerail are not particularly high wear areas. If the plugs are fairly deep, it should be no issue, as it was not on my old handrails, either.

That's certainly reassuring MF, thanks. I got spooked by an older Tartan a few slips away with similar looking toerails. He left his natural and eventually the teak wore away and good lengths of the actual bolts became exposed. But maybe he repeatedly took a brush to it. Who knows, lots of variables, but must have been a nightmare to repair. I suppose if my plugs start popping out I could give the bolt a 1/4 turn and then epoxy the plug back in.

But then there's the VANITY of it all! I happen to think natural teak toerails & rubrails work nicely with a white hull, but not as well with my flag blue. What can I say -- your new teak decks are a testament to the fact that aesthetics count!

[Blue Crab]

Blasphemy I know, but there is a certain moderator who painted his/her teak PINK!

PINK! Like the singer .

[Schooner Chandlery]

The OP referred to "black" as mold but I'd like to bring up that many times the black can be due to the wood's reaction and hold of iron oxides found in dirt. Not growth of mold at all. In those cases, just having a sealant of some sort would really help. If already black, one of the mild acid teak cleaners can take it out.

Muckle Flugga's new teak deck is really beautiful! and I have to say no one in their right mind would varnish a teak deck. Slippery is one reason but more important is the varnish wouldn't last on the deck due to the movement of the teak against the thick expansion joints between each strake of decking. So, clean and with no finish or a sealer alone does the job.

The problem that some boats have (like SV Third Day's photo shows) is when a wide flex seam is built into the structure of something non-deck and then the person decides to varnish it. The varnish won't long stay in place with the expansion and contraction of the dissimilar materials and the boat owner is stuck with forever repeating the cycle of varnishing something not built to be varnished. If the item is build without dissimilar materials, it should be able to be varnished or coated nicely. Otherwise not.



We do the varnishing every fall, have a lot to varnish (about a gallon to 6 quarts is used each year on 4 coats over the sanded old varnish) and have gravitated towards Epifanes, it's part of the maintenance gig and we rarely have to go down to bare wood--if so it is only in a small spot where a ding lets water under the varnish. It is work, yes, but we enjoy the varnished surfaces on our boat. We enjoy it more and more over time as we get better with doing the varnishing. There's a few photos of varnished surfaces in this post on our blog.

I love the clean bright silver color of teak decking but realize it's only a choice for decking. If I didn't have the time or inclination to varnish, I'd do a clearcoat and then paint over the brightwork in a heartbeat. It can always be stripped and revarnished if it was properly sealed before painting.

[bletso]

I have the same top. I am trying just a couple coats of CPES. I may put a coat of Cetol later. That is a completely new top on this hatch. Love / hate? I like the way teak looks and feels but when not taken care of ......

[Schooner Chandlery]

Originally Posted by bletso

I have the same top. I am trying just a couple coats of CPES. I may put a coat of Cetol later. That is a completely new top on this hatch. Love / hate? I like the way teak looks and feels but when not taken care of ......

Since it looks like you took off the entire teak top and redid? If so, it might have lasted longer if you'd splined it and done no gap wood-to-wood on the strips of teak.

The other issue that particular hatch design has it that it is mitered on the corners. Mitered joints always leak because they are subject to movement as the wood gets wetter and dryer with changes in the humidity of the environment. Inside not so bad, outside, a problem. A boat table or hatch will usually have a breadboard type end placed on it to prevent the problems (leaks and surface treatment degradation) that come with miter joints left out in the elements. I have seen this hatch design on other boats and just scratch my head wondering "why? would a boatbuilder who should know better do this?"

[Exile]

I usually don't have to get down to bare teak either, but when I do I was advised to use teak bleach (oxocic acid, I think) before applying the first re-coat. The reason cited was the need to remove a fungus -- often unseen -- that will compromise varnish adhesion. Doesn't seem to bother gelcoat, but I don't think you'd want the acid to run onto painted decks!