I have been using Daly's Seafin hard drying teak oil and Profin varnish products for a couple years now and extremly pleased with the results. I bought them because they were the OEM stain / oil and varnish used by hunter when my boat was new, and I wanted to maintain the original look that attracted me to the boat originally. After trying them I was extremly pleased with the results. The professsional finish carpenter who redid my galley after the fire has said he will be using it on his own boat he liked it so much.
I have done brand new teak as well as refinished the existing teak and the results are consistant and very nice looking.
1) I start with a couple coats of the Seafin Teak Oil, let them dry (at least 24 hours, preferrably 48 hours, if you don't wait the final cure process of the varnish will take MUCH longer), it drys hard and won't ever turn black (at least not in less than 21 years)
2) Apply a coat of Profin varnish (I prefer the gloss, but you may like satan) following the directions. I apply with a brush then wipe excess off and smooth with pre wetted paper towel. Let that first coat dry for a day until it feels sandable.
3) Lightly sand it with 220 grit paper, wipe dust off with clean paper towel and put another coat on with the same procedure. As soon as this coat is no longer tacky to the touch move on to the next step.
4) For outdoor or poorly protected / abused surfaces put a 3rd coat on at this time, otherwise you can skip this coat if it is a decorative piece.
5) The surface should be starting to look glassy at this stage, if not, you didn't sand enough with the 220 grit, and you will need to resand and apply another coat
6) Sand surface with 800-1000 grit wet / dry paper and wipe dust off.
7) Apply 4th coat (3rd if you skipped steps 4 and 5) of Profin varnish to surface
8) Let dry and cure for at least 24-48 hours before handleing, varnish will take as much as a week in normal conditions, longer in cooler conditions, before it fully hardens to it's final state, but after 24-48 hours you should be to work with the piece and not mar the finish.
I have already redone 75% of the interior woodwork on my boat using the procedure above and the results are very very nice. The Profin is a very very light varnish and it actually soaks into and penetrates the wood as much as as 1mm, providing a very deep layer of protection. As a result of how light each coat goes on, the wood grain will still come through the finish so you actually retain a very good degree of grip on the surface even when wet. I did my first truly outdoor application this summer to my companionway slats, so I can't yet say how long it will last 100% exposed to the elements, but it's going on 4-5 months now and no signs of degredation or weathering yet.
