Cetol on wood

[ScottD]

I have some exposed wood that is showing signs of wear. It was finished with Cetol in the past. Do I need to strip the old coating off before applying a fresh coat? If so what is best method for stripping it?
Thanks
ScottD

 

[woodster]

a heat gun and 2-3 inch wide putty knife works well for me....

regards

woody

 

[Stu Jackson]

We have cetol on our teak. Because of a skiing accident last year it has been sadly neglected. I am planning to leave what's left of the cetol (about half covered) and use teak cleaner on the wood, clean it up with lots of water, and then reapply cetol. I'll start on a representative area to see if it works. If it doesn't, then it's stripper and/or the heat gun and starting all over. Why not try this approach? If it doesn't work, please let me know!

 

[zeehag]

i did a job on another boat's cetol finish---all i had to do was wipe well with a 3m pad and water--let dry then re cetol...goood luck.....on mine--i let the cetol and varnish--yes they did that--varnished over cetol--yukk--so i had to take all off---i let it sit and then oiled after sea water wash--lol working great..LOL

 

[Stephen K]

I have some exposed wood that is showing signs of wear. It was finished with Cetol in the past. Do I need to strip the old coating off before applying a fresh coat? ScottD

That depends on the current condition and what your expectations are of the final look and finish. If the wood is in it is decent shape, you don't need to srtip off the old coating. I would clean with soap and water using a scotchbrite pad. Let it dry and follow the directions for applying Cetol...this has worked well for me.

 

[kenn]

When we got our boat 3 springs ago, the brightwork... wasn't. I sanded it all and put on 2 or 3 coats of Cetol. (I actually use 'deck' Cetol, since we had the better part of a gallon left over from a deck job. And it's less expensive than 'marine' Cetol).

Since then, every spring I just lightly sand any bare spots and touch up with Cetol, and maybe do one light overall coat. I've never had this finish crack or peel off; maybe I'm not putting on as much as others.

 

[philwsailz]

An existing Cetol finish layer in good condition only needs cleaned prior to a new application. I have scuffed with 400 grit on occasion, and on others left it unscuffed, and just washed. I can tell no difference in adhesion. The instructions point to the lack of the need to sand with maintenance re-applications.

I have some areas where a mooring cover has rubbed the Cetol through this year, (prior to installing abrasion padding in my cover). In this instance, and with the condition of my Cetol finish all over, I intend to just clean and reapply, over the bare wood, and over the old finish. Experence tells me this will work fine. I will try to lightly rub the bare spots with some acetone, just to remove any accumulated surface oils from the wood. I DO NOT know yet what this will do to the old finish, so I intend to test on some scrap first. Consider this one unknown before slathering acetone all over your good finish...

IF YOU HAVE EXPOSED RUBBED-THROUGH WOOD ON CETOL-FINISHED BRIGHTWORK, BE SURE TO USE THE SAME CETOL TYPE AS WAS PREVIOUSLY APPLIED! As I have pointed out elsewhere, there are 4 different Cetol formulations for marine applications. Re-coating finished brightwork that has a rub-through with a different formulation will result in uneven color. If you used Cetol Marine Natural Teak for the original finish build, do not use Cetol Marine, or Cetol Marine Light or vice versa. It will coat and adhere just fine, but your places where the old finish system were rubbed through will be a different color.

 

[Tom Monroe]

I have a nasty habit of sailing instead of maintaining my boat. So the cetol finish gets pretty out of sorts occassionally (as it is now). When that happens, I DO NOT strip it. Cetol is opaque, so stripping is not really necessary. Get a couple of grades of brass (not steel) wool and rub vigorously to loosen any really bad areas and feather the rest. Then apply as many coats as you have patience. I've never gotten more than two before the water's calling. Two coats seem to look great one year and OK the next. By the third it's time to get out the bronze wool.

Oh ... I like the light color. Original Cetol is too orange.

Tom

 

[philwsailz]

I prefer either the light or the teak... TOTALLY agree on the "too-orange" tone of the original.

 

[Warren Milberg]

When I bought my current boat, all the teak (hand rails, companionway boards, etc.) had deteriorating Cetol on it. I originally tried to touch these areas up, but the places with the bare wood had darkened and would not lighten up uniformly with the remainder of the wood. So....in the end I took an orbital and finish sander to it and brought it all down to bare, smooth, and bright teak. Recoated with 3 coats of Cetol and now all that is needed is an annual maintenance coat.

This was not as bad a job as it may sound --- depending on how much teak you have. On a boat like mine, I think I was able to sand it all down in less than 2 hours.