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Holly grail for new teak!

9124 Views 57 Replies 15 Participants Last post by wakesurfboy, Oct 21, 2009

wakesurfboy

Discussion Starter · Oct 14, 2009 (Edited)

Hello,

I Red lots of stuff (most of it scared me) in this forum about how to protect teak on boat. Mine is brand new so I want to have a PERFECT start and maintain it after. When you have a bad start on painting, difficult time after to come. Environmental stuff, very bad experience. Just scrap a Terra Cotta floor because the vendor changes my urethane for water based varnish that peel when a drop of water comes...

Oil: React with the caulking and the floor will turn gray?
Varnish: Peel after time?
Epoxy: UV Annihilation after time?
Cetol: Turn dark?

Varnish on epoxy is the holly grail? I like wet look but I hated gray or dark wook so oil is probably not a solution for me.

Remember my floor is brand new so it's not a refurbishing solution that I need but a first time, last time solution...

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JohnRPollard

· #2 · Oct 14, 2009

Are you talking about interior or exterior teak, or both?

Personally, I would not coat teak with epoxy. Clear (i.e. unthickened) epoxy is used as an impermeable sealant, to protect wood from water damage. Teak doesn't need protection from water -- it is already virtually impervious to rot because of its natural oils.

Also, the epoxy will need to be protected from uv damage at all times. If you ever miss a re-varnish cycle and the epoxy suffers uv damage, you will have a real mess stripping it all off.

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JohnRPollard

· #4 · Oct 14, 2009

wakesurfboy said:
I talk about the exterior of course. Interior is already protected and less exposed to weather (sun & water).

About Varnish, can I absolutely trust this solution and only have to sand a bit each year and put 2 new coat? I fear the varnish will peal after a while even if I put two new coat each year... In fact, too much varnish will make the full coating too thick, I presume?

Also, because teak is oily, that makes varnish less grip?

If you have any concerns about keeping up with the varnish, then you should worry even more about the epoxy. If you don't protect the epoxy from UV, it will turn yellow and then cloudy, and eventually fail. It will be a mess.

The amount of maintenance for varnish varies by where you are located and how much abuse it gets. If you are living aboard in the tropics, you'll have to put more effort into it, maybe 2 or 3 sandings/coatings per year. If your boat is in Canada and you use it as a weekender and cover it in the winter, an annual sanding/coating might be too often.

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JohnRPollard

· #17 · Oct 15, 2009

wakesurfboy said:
Still don't know what to do... So many different option...

I want the "wet" look provide with oil or varnish but varnish is slippery and oil get dirty and will turn grey anyway?

I don't belive there is not product with UV protection and grip to avoid slippery finish?

WSB,

If you are talking about the teak surfaces shown in the photo (beautiful, by the way

), I agree with the others who have said that this teak should not be treated with a hard coating like varnish or cetol. Doing so would only make the teak slippery and would defeat the purpose of its use as a non-skid surface.

Most folks would just let it weather naturally, but if you really want to keep it shiny/bright looking, the most you'd ever do is lightly sand it and treat it with some sort of teak oil (see recommendations above).

There is no need to protect this teak from the UV. I only mentioned UV protection in my previous posts because you were talking about coating it with epoxy. Epoxy needs UV protection, teak doesn't.

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JohnRPollard

· #50 · Oct 19, 2009

wakesurfboy said:
..On sunny days, fiberglass is very hot, not the teak...

That's an interesting observation. I have found the opposite to be true. At least with weathered-grey teak decks, anyway.

That is, unless the fiberglass deck is painted a darker shade.

Any one else care to comment, one way or the other?

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JohnRPollard

· #55 · Oct 19, 2009

wakesurfboy said:
Why some people tell me that teak is much cooler on your feet in hot weather. How can be possible to have two contrary versions?

Not sure.

But I am not reporting what some other people have told me. I'm reporting what I have felt beneath my own two feet: In tropical and direct summer sunlight, the weathered-teak decks I've experienced got very hot. Much hotter than light-colored fiberglass gelcoat. In certain conditions, they can get hot enough that they are uncomfortable to walk on in bare feet.

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