Hunter exterior teak.

[Ed Schenck]

Do all the Cherubini Hunters have some exterior teak to maintain? I realize it is not a lot compared to some but enough to be time-consuming.

I removed all the varnish around the companionway, the traveller base, and the winch pads. Today I sanded for a couple of hours and masked most of the work. The threat of rain(finally) caused me to cover the cockpit and wait for a few good days.

Some years ago I installed my teak handrails with the screws on top. That is I glued in bungs and then redrilled. Now I can have them off the boat in about ten minutes. So that varnish job is much simplified. But it looks like the Florida sun is gonna' require a lot more effort for the rest of the teak.

I have a cover that reaches from in front of the companionway all the way to the stern. But it is a pain to install, especially as the last step of putting the boat away after a long day.

 

[seadaddler]

New Guy

Yes it is all new here in Florid for me too and know that the warm Sun is going to be great but also trouble on the boat,sooooo glad Hunter stop putting teak on the outside of my boat.
I have been waxing the outside while it is still not too hot hoping it will help keep that hot sun from damaging the nice white fiberglass I have.
Been very windy this week so I have been using the time caching up with some maintance on the boat like changing my head to a new PHII manual pump,good luck and enjoy Florida ED
Nick

 

[kloudie1]

Ed, have ya seen the synthetic teak guys stuff yet.. It looks passable from a few feet away and seems like it might be an answer.. Fortunately, there is not a lot of teak on my boat either but the constant heat and sun really makes keeping it up a pain.
I am considering handrails of this stuff...
http://plasteak.com/osc/index.php?cPath=1_79

 

[Ed Schenck]

PlasTeak instead of varnish.

I am using it Claude. In the picture you can see the dorade lid, traveler base, and handrail are of PlasTeak. It is made near my home in Ohio. When I first started using it the only color was not a good match for my teak. So I put the original rails back on the boat. Now I am not so sure that I will continue with the effort.

 

[reichert]

teak

Yes it is all new here in Florid for me too and know that the warm Sun is going to be great but also trouble on the boat,sooooo glad Hunter stop putting teak on the outside of my boat.
I have been waxing the outside while it is still not too hot hoping it will help keep that hot sun from damaging the nice white fiberglass I have.
Been very windy this week so I have been using the time caching up with some maintance on the boat like changing my head to a new PHII manual pump,good luck and enjoy Florida ED
Nick

i am not glad at all that hunter stopped putting teak topsides. teak is what enhances the looks of a sailboat immeasurably. so what, if it needs your care and attention. it's part of a genuine appreciation for sailboats and things nautical.

 

[seadaddler]

Teak is Beautiful

Yes I agree teak is beautiful I just don't want to keep it looking good,some really nice looking boats have teak all over and all I think is how much work it is.I would rather do all the waxing instead,I love the way my new Hunter looks.

 

[Ed Schenck]

I think all sailors appreciate fine brightwork. Some of us have the time to keep it that way, many do not. If you are limited on boat time then you need to be sailing and not varnishing. As an old retiree I really enjoy tinkering around the boat. So I am not complaining and will get great satisfaction if it comes out well. My biggest issue is that I am not with my boat all of the time. It was many months in NC without me and soon I will be going home to Ohio for the summer. Makes it hard to keep up.

 

[kloudie1]

Ed, That Plasteak looks pretty good on your boat !

 

[Ed Schenck]

Regarding PlasTeak, you could easily check it out. They will send you scraps and you can see how easy it is to work and check the colors. They now make a darker color that would be a better match on my boat. I had also done the cabin trim strip, you can barely see it in the picture above. I also took that off because I overtightened some screws and caused a couple of splits. Plus it only comes in twelve foot lengths so I had a miter for the 22' of trim that was not very good. I cut that up and threw it away but the handrails are in the garage.

I have pictures somewhere of making the handrails. I bought 3" x 1" PlasTeak and used my teak rails as a pattern. I saved a bundle compared to buying their custom made but theirs definitely look better. PlasTeak is workable with normal woodworking tools.

 

[sandpiper10471]

I love the woodwork on my Hunter deck - up north. However, having spent 4 years cruising the tropics, I would not recommend this for Florida. My last boat was a 65 footer. I had stainless rails made up the length of the coachroof. Still maintenance but not nearly as much as teak. Besides, they were stronger and I could lash lots of gear down like my inflatable and jerry cans and not worry about chafe or them getting ripped off by ocean waves. Ed - do yourself a favour and go stainless. It looks just as good.

 

[Johnb]

About 2 years ago the admiral went on strike becasue she said it was either oily or looking bad in spite of quarterly maintainence so she sanded and and painted the external teak on Kinyonga. Quite honestly we really don't have the time to keep stuff that needs the care of fine furniture out in the sun.

John Brecher

 

[Jim Legere]

Tough Call

Ed,

Keeping up varnish or going low maintenance - tough call. To be glib, I would say that the difference between a yacht and a boat is brightwork. I think that when you spend time on brightwork it is for personal satisfaction and it makes a statement about what kind of a ship you run. That's not judgemental - it could easily be argued that real sailors are out there...well...sailing, while the yachtie (or the yachtie's hired hand) is in harbor tending the varnish! Living in the Great White North, it is definitely easier to keep up the brightwork. Plus I'm lazy about sanding and multiple coats, so I use Cetol and live with the slightly orange color. A quick scrub with the Scotchbrite pad and a couple of coats of Cetol does it for me. Probably the biggest labor-saver I have discovered is Sunbrella covers for the handrails. Now if I could only figure something out for the "eyebrows" along the roof line of the cabin... maybe Plasteak...?!

 

[Ed Schenck]

Stainless rails are something that I have long considered. But as I wrote earlier, the handrails are only a minor issue since I can take them home. I lash things to the toerail and stanchions and seldom put anything on the coach roof.

And too, there really isn't that much varnish work. Especially when you think of all the other projects on an old boat. But thanks for all the ideas. I hope to actually go sailing today.

 

[rardiH36]

Stainless handrail conversion or maintain the teak? Each has its merits. Matter of personal preference.

The gloss gel coat on my boat when I bought it two years ago had oxidized to the extent that the FRP underneath was showing through. So a restoration was necessary. The deck fittings needed to come off to sand/prime/repaint. After a lifetime of refinishing projects around the home, I decided that maintaining brightwork to a bristol standard would not suit me going forward.

Attached is a photo of my boat with SS handrails and the teak strip along the length of the cabin removed. (Guess these are the "eyebrows" along the roof line of the cabin per Mr Legere?). Now the only exterior teak remaining is at the companion way and on the cockpit coaming under the primary winches. I painted these teak part with the same paint as the port frames. Rustoleum "Hammered" paint. Its been on now almost 2 years. Finish still looks virtually as good as when I first painted it. Interestingly the few spot where the Rustoleum has worn (rope burns around the winches) or flaked off, the silver/gold color matches very close to the color of the underlying weathered teak the bad spots are hardly noticeable. To me much easier on the eye than UV damaged/peeling varnish "brightwork".

 

[Ed Schenck]

Nice work on the rails. Gives one pause that is for sure. How did you attach them, screws or bolt-through?

An interesting aside regarding stainless. When I first started thinking about making my own bimini there was the question of the frame. Since I had just purchased the boat I decided not to stretch my luck with the Admiral. So I bought the much cheaper aluminum frame. Now after almost ten years it still looks good. Since I have been in salt water(Aug. 2007) I am constantly polishing the stainless. Go figure!

 

[Johnb]

Ed,

Interesting - do you know what grade of aluminum it is. Our dodger frame is coated carbon steel and has lasted 15 years in a salt water environment.

John Brecher

 

[Ed Schenck]

I do not know the grade of aluminum tubing John. It came as part of a Sailrite kit. Their site simply states "made from 7/8" bright anodized aluminum tubing". All the fittings with the kit were stainless however.

 

[rardiH36]

Ed:

The SS end pieces of the SS handrails are attached with SS screws into the fiberglass. Screws are what fastened the original teak handrails to the cabin top. So I figured that screws were good enough for the second fitting as well.

regards,
rardi

 

[Sherry]

I have a 1992 H30 with eyebrow strips down the length of the cabin. I removed them and replaced them with Plasteak, which was a huge mistake. It cracked within just a few months of installation, even though we were careful to not over-tighten it. So now I need to replace those. I am looking for alternatives. I could go back to teak - but where to buy replacement strips? Or what other options? If I leave them off completely, I will have all those holes to do something with. Thoughts? Thanks.

 

[Ed Schenck]

So maybe my PlasTeak cabin trim splits were not from over tightening? I have yet to satisfactorily resolve the lack of trim. I filled the holes with some epoxy and touched up with white Interlux. Then I bought a roll of one inch black 3M trim tape and applied. It was really hard to get a straight line but it looks OK from a distance.

I am thinking about having a twenty-two foot piece made up from mahogany for each side. Masking and using Interlux Toplac or similar is maybe a better choice.