Teak handrails and rigging blocks - what finish

[Enyar]

The teak on my late-Dad's boat is in need of some love. It was neglected while he battled cancer and now the varnish on the handrails has fully lifted. On the helm of my Whaler I used epoxy to seal prior to 8 coats of varnish. It looks fantastic and has held up great for the past 5 years but it also spends 97% of its time in a garage. I'm wondering what the best solution is for these handrails that are exposed to the environment:

[sanibel sailor]

First step- suncovers. If you keep them covered, they will stay good. Otherwise, in Florida, all is lost sooner or later.
Straight varnish for me. Epoxy has poor UV tolerance and is hard to strip when it goes bad- and it will eventually.

[Flatswing]

Originally Posted by sanibel sailor

First step- suncovers. If you keep them covered, they will stay good. Otherwise, in Florida, all is lost sooner or later.
Straight varnish for me. Epoxy has poor UV tolerance and is hard to strip when it goes bad- and it will eventually.

This: realize that absent, covers/sun protection, u will need to add 1 or 2 coats every 6-12 months (as well as repairing any dings immediately.) I’m an Epiphanes fan personally but any good quality varnish works.

That said, if u aren’t willing or disposed to keeping up the brightwork semi annually, just let it go gray, brush with a SOFT brush across the grain with sea water as needed. Teak doesn’t need finishing, it’s just for appearance

[Thumbs Up]

Thumbs Up has 13 double loop teak grabrails. I painted them all with Awlgrip (Matterhorn white) to match the rest of the exterior. Paint is the best solution and it looks great!

[Enyar]

Originally Posted by sanibel sailor

First step- suncovers. If you keep them covered, they will stay good. Otherwise, in Florida, all is lost sooner or later.
Straight varnish for me. Epoxy has poor UV tolerance and is hard to strip when it goes bad- and it will eventually.

Thanks!

[Hoodsail]

I'm third for varnish, using epifanes, and sun covers....relatively easy to sew such covers by hemming small bits of sunbrella left over from other projects. Install snaps to secure cover on teak handrails. Altho still trying to figure out how to fasten sunbrella to varnished rail about the cockpit..

[Cheechako]

Never epoxy. One mistake not overcoating and it will be a real mess. Buy snap on Sunbrella covers.
Or dont coat them at all. Wash with salt water now and then and keep them clean.

As far as varnishing, if you do, and dont have covers, 3 coats will have break throughs in a year+ up here in the PNW. Rain is quite abrasive actually!

[zengirl]

I did 2 coats cetol and 4 coats Helmsman. Beautiful.

[Cabo Jim]

I have had good success with epoxy and varnish over teak. See the attached videos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqiXZrs5hvM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNLQRRDaitE

The trick is to get rid of any teak oil on the surface of the wood. Use liberal amounts of acetone to wash the teak. Then do it again. Then do it once more. Rub hard.
The West System 105 epoxy, 207 hardener and the Pettit varnish are pricey but when you are finished it will look like fantastic and will be bullet proof. Definitely remove all pieces to be refinished if you can.

The boat is in Florida and only needs a maintenance coat of varnish yearly.

[Enyar]

Originally Posted by Cabo Jim

I have had good success with epoxy and varnish over teak. See the attached videos.

The trick is to get rid of any teak oil on the surface of the wood. Use liberal amounts of acetone to wash the teak. Then do it again. Then do it once more. Rub hard.
The West System 105 epoxy, 207 hardener and the Pettit varnish are pricey but when you are finished it will look like fantastic and will be bullet proof. Definitely remove all pieces to be refinished if you can.

The boat is in Florida and only needs a maintenance coat of varnish yearly.

This is what I did for my helm and I haven't coated it in like 5 years.

That being said I think I am going to lightly sand and then oil since my Dad had a ton of oil in the garage and I'm not sure what's going to happen to the boat.

[KP44]

I recently saw a boat from Africa that uses only Vaseline on his teak and it looked great. When I mentioned it, two other sailors said they use Vaseline.
After years of varnish and teak varnishes, my spouse plans to try Teak Oil.

On my boat we have the Teak Reduction Act in effect. Every year I remove some topsides teak.

[Orion Jim]

The hatch boards “eye candy” get Epifanes....everything else on the exterior gets Cetol and Cetol Gloss which is the U.V. protection......