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My Islander has some teak trim, grab rails and the bow and stern enjoy nice accent trim pieces. The companion way trim and its hatch boards are also teak. There is a teak boarder around the instrument panel, too. It is not a lot of exterior wood. The rest is white aging gelcoat. I am an expert varnisher. I used to teach the painting and varnishing class at WoodenBoat Magazine's school. Here is my method of keeping my teak trim looking clean and fresh.
I do not varnish it. That begins an endless maintenance cycle that causes its own problems. Teak is a beautiful wood in its natural state. It does darken and that is considered appealing to some. I like mine light so I simply spray it with a 4 to 1 Clorox (4 parts bleach and 1 part water) solution each spring and rinse it with water after it has had a chance to bleach to a uniform light color. It darkens uniformly over the summer. It looks good to me and is a simple solution to its maintenance. The wood was installed in 1977 and looks like new.
I must confess that the oak trim on my Marshall cat boat is varnished and beautiful. Let the teak be teak!
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