Spar Varnish, Cetol, or Teak Oil for Covered Hatch Boards?

[mukilteomaniac]

This winter I am going to refinish my solid teak hatch boards. I am looking for advice on what type of finish I should use. Our boat is in Puget Sound and the hatch boards are typically covered up by a Sunbrella canvas cover while they are in place. I finished our teak cockpit table a couple of years ago with Spar Varnish and it is also covered with a binnacle cover when not in use and, of course, this finish has help up well. I kinda don't like the glossy, plastic-like, finish of the spar varnish, so I was thinking of using teak oil for the hatch boards to allow me to just re-pil them periodically while maintaining the natural appearance of the solid teak.

Any opinions and advice on what type of finish to use for this very small winter project would be great.

Thanks!

Dave
S/V Emily Ann
2007 Catalina 320 MK II
mukilteo, Washington

[C lectric]

Consider using a matte finish spar varnish. Even mixing gloss and matte if the finish is too dull. If you don;t like it then one coat of the gloss will take you back to gloss.
Try it on a small piece.

I don't like oil outside. The rain will turn it blotchy, lifting the oil in patches and then darkening the wood beneath. Yes I know you cover it but still I think that will only delay the inevitable and once the wood starts to darken then you have to sand again to remove the darkend wood, or bleach.

A friend did exactly this and the blotches are the result. he will have to start all over again next year with the sanding. I will say that the problem is out in the weather but I still think oiling is for indoor wood where the oil cannot be leached or lifted.

[Kashmir cat]

Stay away from teak oil. It never looks good for very long. Cetol looks better but is not that durable. Several coats (more than 6) of good quality varnish will look great for years especially if covered. I varnished the teak swim platform on my monohull with 12 coats of Epiphanes and it still looked new after 3 years of Carribbean sun and sea spray.

[rebel heart]

Flagship varnish is my favorite.

[HansSolo]

Cetol gets my vote. If you re-coat it once a year (twice a year for us in FL) it holds up really well.

This was first applied 2 years ago..
If you don't like the gloss you don't have to use it, the "natural teak" color is naturally matt.
Ive looked at the "tropical teak oil" and to me it looks muddy. Almost like an opaque light brown paint.

[Suijin]

While I love the look of varnish, I don't like the labor involved in getting a really good finish. You need at least eight coats and then the yearly maintenance.

I decided to give Cetol a try this year, on my rather large and broad cockpit combings. I did not expect much but am very pleased with the results, having put down two coats of natural and then two coats of gloss on top. Not as flat and perfect as varnish, but to the casual eye looks just like varnish and much less work and I'll be able to lightly sand and slap another coat of clear on each year, basically indefinitely if it doesn't fail anywhere and require spot repair. The other exposed bits of wood...the cap rail, dorade boxes, cabin eyebrow, and hand rails are all going to get migrated to Cetol over time.

That said, I'll probably keep my hatch boards and cockpit table varnish. The hatch boards only get occasional use as I have a one piece acrylic board that is the everyday board, and the table has a cover. We'll see.

[IdoraKeeper]

I tried good varnish along side cetol in my cockpit. Both failed at the same time. Choose the one you like best and put at least 8 to 12 coats on. That will get you by for around three years.

[DumnMad]

+1 for Cetol, it preserves the timber.

[rebel heart]

Originally Posted by IdoraKeeper

I tried good varnish along side cetol in my cockpit. Both failed at the same time. Choose the one you like best and put at least 8 to 12 coats on. That will get you by for around three years.

8-12 coats of cetol?

It's supposed to be 3, max, followed by maybe 2-3 of the clear coat.

[IdoraKeeper]

Originally Posted by rebel heart

8-12 coats of cetol?

It's supposed to be 3, max, followed by maybe 2-3 of the clear coat.

I have 12 coats on my deck hatches...no clear coat. Past use of it was not the result I intended. We put 8 coats on the cap rails at the same time as the hatches were done. Would have done more but just had to get away from the dock. (Cap rails are starting to fail). This has been a consistent experience. In our climate, bright work is work.

[Suijin]

Originally Posted by IdoraKeeper

I have 12 coats on my deck hatches...no clear coat. Past use of it was not the result I intended. We put 8 coats on the cap rails at the same time as the hatches were done. Would have done more but just had to get away from the dock. (Cap rails are starting to fail). This has been a consistent experience. In our climate, bright work is work.

Did you thin the first 1-2 coats, @ 50%? Makes for dramatically better adhesion and weather resistance according to a few coating pros I have spoken to.

Cetol takes a long time to cure. If you pile on a ton of coats in a row, the undercoats are never going to cure properly. That's why they recommend 3 coats for an initial application. The benefit of Cetol is that you can hit it with a single maintenance coat each year.

All that said, I've never kept a boat in the NW.

[Connemara]

My brightwork has eight coats of varnish, followed by two coats of clear cetol. It looks fine and this spring I will scuff it lightly and out on another coat of cetol.

This is an experiment. I had been using varnish alone but it was a serious chore to maintain. A friend at the sailing club recommended this and -- since his brightwork looks very nice -- I thought I'd try it. So far, so good.


Connemara

[mukilteomaniac]

Guys, thanks for the advice. I ended up using Cetol and it turned out great.

Dave

[chris95040]

A fella with the same boat as me (we have teak cabin trunks) recommended stripping it down, applying a few coats of Smith's CPES (penetrating epoxy), and then several (6+) coats of two-part poly (Bristol Finish). He claims when covered for the winter (we are in the Northeast) it'll go 4-5 years before needing to be scuffed and maintenance coated w/ more bristol.

Smith's claims their product is a particularly ideal formulation for stabilizing the wood and giving the poly a solid foundation. Smith's actually recommend applying the poly while the CPES is still not _completely_ cured, the idea is the poly will cure, then as the epoxy slooowly finalizes it's cure it'll "glue down" the poly. I was too chicken for that, I just let the epoxy cure and then gave it some teeth w/ 220 before applying the poly.

Bristol is a great product in that you can apply several coats on top of each other without sanding as long as they are done within a 24 hour period so they can chemically crosslink. The coats get a little lumpy after a while so unless you are a much better painter than me you'll need to let it cure completely and hit it with a longboard before applying the final coat.

The result is awesome - the boat had a gorgeous, crystal clear honey color on the semi-annual Interlux Schooner regimen the previous owner had kept up and I was terrified I'd be darkening the wood or decreasing the clarity with this epoxy + poly job, but it looks the same with this new system, just a hell of a lot more durable.

The fear of course is the system fails. Traditional varnish is really easy to remove when you've got a sharp, flat scraper and a heat gun. Not sure what this would be like. I only followed this route because someone who did the exact same thing, in the same climate, same usage cycles, with the same wood, had excellent results and has over a decade of experience with it living up to its claims. We've got a lot of brightwork and annual recoats would just kill it for me.

-Chris