Treatment of Teak Decks

[Allen]

This appeared on the Sailnet gulf coast list, regarding finishing teak decks. I had never heard of this particular technique, and was interested in what this group thought of it, specifically the part about using varnish over epoxy.

Sorry, but you are all wet when stateing teak is rotting when it is turning grey, quite the contrary, this is the natural way teak protects itself.

The worst thing one can to do teak is to overclean it, pressure washing is a great example, especsially if we are talking about laid teak decks.

The best thing you can do for laid teak decks is nothing. Bleach it occassionaly with normal old bleach, and then dose it liberally with really saltly water. Salt kills the mildew that grows in the teak and turns it black.

Boats that are offshore, have the great looking silver teak color. This is brought about by natural process of imersiion in salt water. It is fresh water that is the ememy of teak. The natural process of turing grey preserves the teak.

If you want a bright finish, sand the teak to a varish type of state, coat if with two coats of clear epoxy, sand it and then apply varnish over the teak. This is long lasting and provides protection to the teak, The varnish may peal off, but the epoxy will seal the teak and make revarnishing easier.

Stop overcleaning and producing the deep grain, never use scotch brite pads, pressure wash or stiff brissle brushes to clean teak! You will only shorten it's useful life and looks.

[Tim]

When they mention using epoxy and varnish, I think the writer had delved off into discussing treatment of other areas of teak trim--not decks. Obviously, epoxy and/or varnish on decks would be a disaster and very dangerous.

Epoxy-coating wood before varnish has its fans, but I am not one of them. The problem is that you must completely seal all sides and all areas of the wood, or else you run the very real risk of water getting behind the epoxy and causing damage. I'd rather have my varnish lift--an annoyance, but not the end of the world--than have water sit behind a partial epoxy coating and ruin the wood.

To me, this falls into the category of "miracle" cures that often lead to worse conditions than the original issue. Varnish isn't hard to maintain, but if it does...you just strip it off and start again. Partially-ruined epoxy can be a bear to remove at all. No thanks...not for me!

I believe teak decks should be left bare to weather naturally, and be scrubbed across (not with) the grain using salt water, much as the original writer said. They'll last a long time this way.

[Peter Jenny]

I am in the process of restoring/re-building a Cheoy Lee Frisco Flyer and a large part of which is associated with her teak decks. I have heard many times that the best thing for teak decks is frequent washing with salt water. This is great if you are on the ocean. Question: For those of us that have found ourselves along way from salt water, would it be advisable to regurlarly treat our teak decks with a solution of salt dissolved in fresh water?

[Tim]

That's a very good question! The answer is probably yes.

[dasein668]

Is it the salt in the water that is beneficial, or something else in sea water? And if it's the salt, will any salt do, or is it the high proportion of potassium chloride in seawater?

Just some thoughts.... I have no answer.

[JonnyBoats]

Years ago I took a small boat building course at Mystic Seaport, and one interesting tidbit I picked up concerned the Charles W. Morgan (whaling ship). The water at Mystic seaport is brackish since it is relatively far up the river. This leads to deteriation of the hull planking and frames. Because of this they bring "real" salt water up the river (or at least they did back then) to help preserve the ship.

[Tim]

Pete,

I guess you'll just have to import truckloads of ocean water so that you can wash your boat! ;<)