Letting teak go gray - maintenance??

[zachduckworth]

Hi all,

I’m working on stripping my britework back down to the wood. I was going to oil it, but I got to thinking that I actually like the look of natural gray teak, especially when paired with high end deck racing hardware. I know it has it’s proponents. I assume that if I do this there will still be some maintenance involved, like washing it from time to time. What cleansers would I want to use to keep all natural teak looking good (and not green..)? The teak is currently in great shape.

[MARC D]

In is natural state, teak does not need any care if it stays salty. It is fresh water that will cause greenish growth. Boats on the hard or in fresh water will see their decks getting green.
Flush your deck with sea water if you are not cruising. Do not brush teak.

If you have to remove green spot, use Boracide or a weak mix (1%) of chlorine and rinse thoroughly.

[TheOffice]

A low maintenance alternative is teal sealer NOT teak oil. Wipe it on. Go sailing.

[CarlF]

Get some of this cleaner. It’s what the Superyachts use (Teak Decking Systems makes many of their teak decks). It pulls the black mildew out of the teak grain leaving it a beautiful bleached silver/tan color. Works fine on teak trim as well as decks.

https://www.teakdecking.com/eco-100-...leaner-powder/

[SV-Viento]

Yes let it go silver looks great.

[Kijit]

We use Semco on our teak deck. Stays looking great all season.

[JRM]

Originally Posted by CarlF

Get some of this cleaner. It’s what the Superyachts use (Teak Decking Systems makes many of their teak decks). It pulls the black mildew out of the teak grain leaving it a beautiful bleached silver/tan color. Works fine on teak trim as well as decks.

https://www.teakdecking.com/eco-100-...leaner-powder/

The MSDS for this is remarkably similar (or almost exactly) the same as OxyClean. It's Sodium Carbonate (Soda Ash) and Sodium Percarbonate with about 5% Sodium Bicarb (baking soda.)

You can go generic and save quite a bit.

JRM

[gonesail]

all my teak is varnished but I really want to try semco.

[LarryDW]

My old girl has gray teak topside. Just a salt water rinse, with a light scrub removes any growth, but if you actively sail I find minimal maintenance is required. Have considered Semco, but why add additional maintenance?

[squarerigger]

I think local conditions might be more of a determining factor than is generally appreciated.So, for San Diego here is my experience accumulated over several years of taking care of my present boat plus a whole bunch of historic Museum vessels with wood decks:

Plan 1: Just let the teak go grey, but flush it with salt water. I don't know if its the result of airplanes flying overhead and exhausting constantly or some other from of pollution, but the salt water of our bay to a depth of 2 feet or so will destroy cellulose of wood. its worse for fir decks than for teak, but ultimately if you wet your decks down with salt bay water they will turn to shredded wheat. For fir, the destruction is about ⅛" per month of wetting down once per week. Not sure what it is for teak, but its pretty bad.

2. Just let it go grey but wash it off with fresh water or nothing. There is a lot of soot in the air either from the planes referenced above or auto exhaust. Anyway, it will permeate into the pores of the wood turning it black, and will also for some reason promote the growth of mildew, also turning the teak black. More fresh water makes this worse.

3. Oil the teak. This will greatly accelerate the darkening off the wood and the accumulation of mildew, turning some of the teak black and other areas with less direct sun actually green.

4. Use Starbright teak sealer. It seems this stuff has lots of iron oxide as a UV filter. The surface has an unnatural yellow tinge and grows brittle and fails with much UV, rendering the necessity to bleach the decks frequently, which also destroys the wood.

5. Teak Decking System cleanser plus sealer. This isn't much better than Starbright, but isn't as yellow. The cleanser, in particular doesn't seem to do anything. I do like their caulking compound a lot except for fir decks, for which the adhesive is so strong that it splits the grain.

6. SEMCO bleach (do it only once followed by SEMCO sealer). I have been using this for about two years and it seems to be the only thing which does not result in the destruction of the wood. They say to apply a new coat "once per season" without saying what they mean by a season. In my experience it looks like you need to reapply the sealer every six months or so, but at least it looks pretty nice the entire way through its decay cycle, sheds dirty atmosphere particulates, and prevents the establishing of mildew. Its the only thing I know of that works, in my present environment.

7. Multipart LP or epoxy sealers. I've only seen these used on fir decks, for which they're pretty bad.

8. Seafin glossy deck oil. provides a fragile surface which doesn't last long, then starts the accumulation of particulates and mildew.

9. Boiled linseed oil, mixed with Penetrol (or diesel oil). Might just as well "paint it black."

Hope this helps.

[RaymondR]

I'd move continents to get away from an environment like that??

[Celestialsailor]

Originally Posted by Kijit

We use Semco on our teak deck. Stays looking great all season.

I have checked this out on a couple of boats now and the Semco looks pretty good. My Pearson came with about 20 layers of peeling varnish. I'm allowing nature and the hot Central Valley of California to help strip it off. I have used Cetol (teak) in the past and was quite pleased with it as I would do 1 coat a year to keep it nice. But if you let it go and wanted to repair a few sun bleached spot, you would always notice that.

[David B]

Originally Posted by zachduckworth

Hi all,

I’m working on stripping my britework back down to the wood. I was going to oil it, but I got to thinking that I actually like the look of natural gray teak, especially when paired with high end deck racing hardware. I know it has it’s proponents. I assume that if I do this there will still be some maintenance involved, like washing it from time to time. What cleansers would I want to use to keep all natural teak looking good (and not green..)? The teak is currently in great shape.

Depends on the age of your boat, but assuming it is reasonably new, and therefore does not have three quarter inch teak planking on the deck, but just the 8mm or so strip used these days, I can say I have seen plenty of these left to go grey, and weather away. After a few years, the decks are in tatters.

There is not much teak there to start with, let alone once a few more millimeters of it have weathered away over the side ('tramlining' being the first indication of losing the teak).

Whether you like grey, or the 'freshly sanded' colour, when there is very little there to start with, our choice is to seal, and have the sealer wear away rather than the teak.

We have a 50' fully teak decked yacht, including the cockpit. We apply 1 coat a year, which takes less than 4 person hours. Now 10 years on, it is still looking good. We use Semco 'Natural Tone'. Here is how we do it:
https://youtu.be/Qt0uel_v-kY?t=78

[PamlicoTraveler]

The teak is decorative and I like to see it varnished. Of course it is preference, but for me it is worth trouble.

Cetol is now suitable, whereas it used to seem more like paint. Now it is more like a durable varnish. Cetol is supposed to be a complete system and is used to create the pigmented finish and then a clear finish is applied over it for better glossiness and protection.

[kaz911]

According to my 76yo classic educated wooden boat builder dad - his choice for best treatment is old fashioned "soap chips" (sæbe spåner in Danish)

Apply a good thick mix (200g/l of water - leave it to thicken slightly before use)- brush it on - let it sit for a bit - wash and brush it off.

It will stay light gray but it will clean and protect the teak. The teak on his Maxi 1000 is in perfect condition and have only needed very minor repairs over the 20+ years.