Exterior Teak

I am about to redo my teak and would like to know what you have found to be the best method of cleaning teak as well as treating / maintaining.

I have some questions about refinishing exterior teak. Our IP 32 has several coats of Cetol and it is starting show it's age. I would like to try something else like varnish or Starbright Tropical Teak sealer.

1. When I start using a scraper, do I also use a heat gun?
2. Do you tape around the teak before you start to scrape?
3. If so, will the heat gun make the tape stick badly?
4. Do you re-tape after you get all the old Cetol off?

I'm sure I will have other questions, so I hope y'all have patience.

I would highly recommend that you read "Brightwork: The Art of Finishing Wood," by Rebecca Wittman. Check it out at www.amazon.com/Brightwork-The-Art-Finishing-Wood/dp/0877429847. This book will answer most if not all of your questions. Excellent!

Thanks for the recommendation! I'll certainly check it out.

An alternative to the varnish or Cetol thing is to use teak oil. We stripped our teak down to bare wood and brushed on 2 or 3 coats of oil. We like the look better but it does require upkeep. It's good for about 3 months. Then we scrub the teak with a green pad and apply more oil. It goes pretty quickly. It's a trade-off with the Cetol. The actual application is less work with the oil but you do it more often. What I really like is the old timely glow you get from the oiled teak.

Another alternative is to let it go natural. Grey is good. I've got it in my hair and I think it looks just fine.

Tom Ward
IP420-35
La Vida Dulce

We are in the middle of cleaning and varnishing the rub rail on our IP32. We took the metal part off and are now working on the teak underneath. Several of the screw holes have cracks along either side of them. Should we fill the cracks with something before we put the metal part back on? If so, what would y'all recommend? I will add a picture here, if I can figure out how...

How cool! I figured it out!

If there's any rot in there try Smith's two-part liquid epoxy that's designed to seep in and replace the rotten wood with resin. They also make a two-part paste that will fill the cracks. Check instructions and video on the Jamestown Distributors site. I've had good luck with these. If there's no rot then just use a bedding compound or marine silicone for the screws.

mluskin wrote: If there's any rot in there try Smith's two-part liquid epoxy that's designed to seep in and replace the rotten wood with resin. They also make a two-part paste that will fill the cracks. Check instructions and video on the Jamestown Distributors site. I've had good luck with these. If there's no rot then just use a bedding compound or marine silicone for the screws.

Thank you for your reply! What we did is mix a little teak saw dust with resin and filled them in with that. Some of the other places I filled in with exterior wood putty. We've finished all the sanding and will start varnishing tomorrow. It really does look nice at this point. While we are on the hard, it just made sense to do the rub rails. So far, we've done the hand rails and eyebrow. After we get Whimsy home to our own slip, I think we will do the cap rails and put maintaince coats on the hand rails and eyebrow.