revitalizing teak

[captaincurt]

Greetings all. My wife and I just purchased a 30' O'Day here in Charleston,SC. Our first boat, and she needs a good deal of teak work done. Any suggestions on bringing the teak back to it's original glory and thoughts on how to keep it there once we do?! We've already enjoyed reading other posts and learning from all of your collective wisdom. I'd appreciate your comments!

[Pblais]

There are a lot of treatments available for teak and an equal number of people that like one product or another. I think you can find discussions on almost all of them here in other threads.

If it has a finish on it already and it isn't looking good it means the UV has destroyed the finish. All finishes reach that point sooner or later. Some are easier to remove than others and some more work to apply. The harder it is to apply the harder it comes off when the time comes. The easiest application material needs to be repeated much more often. I think you may find over a long enough period that it all takes the same amount of time if you add up all the hours.

You can start with 60 grit sand paper and remove the rest of the finish taking care not to scratch the gel coat. As the finish comes off new wood is exposed and you should see the nice rich warm glow of teak. It turns silver if left untreated in a few weeks.

Teak trim can split as it dries out from prolonged exposure to the sun. It really can't be repaired once that happens.

Find something you like the look of and pay your dues like the rest of us. Time on the boat maintaining teak is therapeutic. I'm just not sure what it is therapeutic for yet. I know it boosts the sales of muscle ache remedies.

[captaincurt]

Thank you Pblais for your response. I'll search for other threads, was hoping for a starting point at least, and you provided that. Appreciate it very much!

[Adventures!]

Quote; "Teak trim can split as it dries out from prolonged exposure to the sun. It really can't be repaired once that happens."

Here is a tip for repairing a split in the wood.
As you clean off the wood save the wood sawdust, mix it well with some clear resin and fill the crack leaving it proud, when dry sand off level. The wood in the clear resin being the same colour makes a very good match.

[captaincurt]

Awesome tip on the sawdust...thanks