Exterior teak protection

[weephee]

Is there any negative to coating the exterior teak with clear epoxy to help preserve the color and finish I seem to be endlessly refinishing with varnish so thought this might work.

[Orion Jim]

I’ve known people who have tried this. Even the clear epoxy will turn yellow and get cloudy with sun exposure. I’ve had good luck with Cetol, six seasons use and it still looks decent. Most still rely on varnish. It’s all a matter of your preference and how much work you want to put into it.

[Tillsbury]

Epoxy isn't uv resistant, so no this is a bad idea. Most clear coatings have next to no protection against uv (because they're clear). The best you can do apart from trying to find something with some uv protection is use a product that doesn't need too much physical removal when you need to do the job again. Epoxy and polyurethane are terrible for this as your only option is sanding back.

I'm having good experience with Semco teak sealer, although I've not had it long enough to pronounce a complete win. You don't need to remove it, it assists with cleaning, and it's super easy to apply new coats each season. It also has a little colour in it which is slightly cheating but helps with uv protection and keeps the colour up. I'm in NZ which has extreme UV levels due to ozone holes.

Disclosure: my company manufactures wood finishes, so I have some experience of this. Sadly, we don't do an exterior teak finish otherwise I'd use that

[weephee]

Thanks for the replies. I'll look up the Semco.