Just bought a 1972 Catalina and am looking for the best way to refinish the Teak on the boat. Not sure if Varnish vs. oil is better. Also if you use steal wool or sand or what? Any ideas on how to restore the Teak beauty back into the boat I would appreaciate hearing about it. Thank you
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Dave Viglierchio
Do you want to sail or varnish?
Steve: I my opinion, Cetol or Armada is the ONLY option. Not the most beautiful but the most effective way to make your boat look good and stay looking good. Get the teak clean. NEVER but NEVER use steel wool on a boat. Only use bronze wool or synthetic materials. If steel wool gets on anything it will rust and it does it quickly. Use one of the teak cleaners to clean up the wood. Be careful not to use a brush and scrub too hard. This removes the soft material in the teak and then only the grain is left. If you use the Cetol Lite you will probably like the results better. Apply 2-3 coats of the Cetol Lite and then a couple of coats of the clear. If you see that you have any place that is worn, you can touch it up easily. Now you are going to get a bunch of these nice guys sailors that tell you that Cetol sucks. But I am going to tell you first that varnish sucks worse. Cetol and sail!
Steve: I my opinion, Cetol or Armada is the ONLY option. Not the most beautiful but the most effective way to make your boat look good and stay looking good. Get the teak clean. NEVER but NEVER use steel wool on a boat. Only use bronze wool or synthetic materials. If steel wool gets on anything it will rust and it does it quickly. Use one of the teak cleaners to clean up the wood. Be careful not to use a brush and scrub too hard. This removes the soft material in the teak and then only the grain is left. If you use the Cetol Lite you will probably like the results better. Apply 2-3 coats of the Cetol Lite and then a couple of coats of the clear. If you see that you have any place that is worn, you can touch it up easily. Now you are going to get a bunch of these nice guys sailors that tell you that Cetol sucks. But I am going to tell you first that varnish sucks worse. Cetol and sail!
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Peter Laylin
I like varnish
It's purely a matter of preference. I love the looks of varnished teak and don't mind the maintenance (so far, at least!)Lots of sanding and six coats of good varnish made my C-30 look like a new boat! - well, almost. But I will have to follow up once or twice a year. Your choice!
It's purely a matter of preference. I love the looks of varnished teak and don't mind the maintenance (so far, at least!)Lots of sanding and six coats of good varnish made my C-30 look like a new boat! - well, almost. But I will have to follow up once or twice a year. Your choice!
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Stephen Helmer
I like oil
Sand the old varnish off with 60 or 80 grit sand paper to begin with. Then resand the bare teak with 120 grit paper. Apply a good oil and then go sailing. Teak is a naturally oily wood, which makes it ideal for a marine enviornment. If you revarnish your teak, you will find out next year that you will probably need to redo all of your hard work. On the otherhand, if you oil your teak, you only need to reapply oil every now and then to keep it looking good. Good luck! Stephen Helmer Builder91@aol.com
Sand the old varnish off with 60 or 80 grit sand paper to begin with. Then resand the bare teak with 120 grit paper. Apply a good oil and then go sailing. Teak is a naturally oily wood, which makes it ideal for a marine enviornment. If you revarnish your teak, you will find out next year that you will probably need to redo all of your hard work. On the otherhand, if you oil your teak, you only need to reapply oil every now and then to keep it looking good. Good luck! Stephen Helmer Builder91@aol.com
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Terry Houwerzyl
Varnish the inside/Cetal the outside
The responses you've received are both good. If you need to redo the interior I like the look of varnish. 5-7 coats and it lasts years with minor maintence but the outside is better with cetal. I have a boat that we varnished and when we let it go for to long had a lot of hard work to remove and redo. Good luck.
The responses you've received are both good. If you need to redo the interior I like the look of varnish. 5-7 coats and it lasts years with minor maintence but the outside is better with cetal. I have a boat that we varnished and when we let it go for to long had a lot of hard work to remove and redo. Good luck.
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gary jensen
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LaDonna Bubak - Catalina Owners
Here's another word: Bristol
Bristol finish claims their product looks exactly like varnish but with the maintenance of Cetol (which IS ugly!). I haven't tried it personally but know people who have who have been thrilled with the results. And the line that sailors who use Cetol sail more than those who use varnish is a crock. Everyone knows you only varnish when there's NO wind so you couldn't possibly be sailing anyway. I find that there is very little more satisfying than working on my boat when I can't be sailing. Regardless, check out the different finishes before you commit - it could save you years of heartache. LaDonna
Bristol finish claims their product looks exactly like varnish but with the maintenance of Cetol (which IS ugly!). I haven't tried it personally but know people who have who have been thrilled with the results. And the line that sailors who use Cetol sail more than those who use varnish is a crock. Everyone knows you only varnish when there's NO wind so you couldn't possibly be sailing anyway. I find that there is very little more satisfying than working on my boat when I can't be sailing. Regardless, check out the different finishes before you commit - it could save you years of heartache. LaDonna
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Bob Knott
Another Armada Voter
I too switched from Cetol to Armada because I hated the dreaded Cetol orange look. Armada works the same with 3 coats, last a couple of years, and gives the teak a beautiful honey type look without any orange. It comes in gloss or no gloss, and since I don't want even the look of varnish on my boat, I used the no gloss with great success. It is true the varnishers are all working on their boats while we are sailing, I saw it clearly last weekend. We sail, they sand! Bob Knott H380
I too switched from Cetol to Armada because I hated the dreaded Cetol orange look. Armada works the same with 3 coats, last a couple of years, and gives the teak a beautiful honey type look without any orange. It comes in gloss or no gloss, and since I don't want even the look of varnish on my boat, I used the no gloss with great success. It is true the varnishers are all working on their boats while we are sailing, I saw it clearly last weekend. We sail, they sand! Bob Knott H380
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Les Murray
Another vote for Bristol Finish
I took LaDonna's advice and refinished all my exterior teak with Bristol Finish over the winter. Instead of varnish, it is a two part urethane finish. I put on six coats and it looks just like varnish. One thing I would suggest when using is to apply about four coats the first day, let it dry for a week, sand it lightly, and apply a few more coats. If you do all six coats in one day, you can get air bubbles. I have not gone a whole season yet, but the stuff is supposed to last multiple seasons. Les Murray s/v Ceilidh 86 C-36 #560
I took LaDonna's advice and refinished all my exterior teak with Bristol Finish over the winter. Instead of varnish, it is a two part urethane finish. I put on six coats and it looks just like varnish. One thing I would suggest when using is to apply about four coats the first day, let it dry for a week, sand it lightly, and apply a few more coats. If you do all six coats in one day, you can get air bubbles. I have not gone a whole season yet, but the stuff is supposed to last multiple seasons. Les Murray s/v Ceilidh 86 C-36 #560
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Bryan C.
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L-Seelig
Interior, oil... exterior, it depends
on the condition of the wood. I have just finished pulling and re-doing every bit of teak in my boat. Cleaned, sanded, 100,240,400 & 600 grit, then oiled and the results is amazing. The previous owner of my boat must have lost interest somewhere along the way as it was in sad shape but I was dumbfounded at how resilient teak is. I was disappointed that even with the lightest of oils it still darkened more than I wanted but it looks great. The exterior is another story. Because of neglect the soft grain had almost all but disappeared which made for a very different approach. I used Cetol and have been pleased even though it covers some of the beauty of the wood. However it is much less maintenance than varnish. I might be inclined to try Armada on a future boat. But If I was able to get the teak smooth by sanding, and travel time to and from in the off-season was not a factor, Oil is the way I would go. It only takes a few minutes to keep up and the look is great. Now if someone would only come up with oil that makes the teak look as good as it does when wet that would be nice. Regards, Lysle
on the condition of the wood. I have just finished pulling and re-doing every bit of teak in my boat. Cleaned, sanded, 100,240,400 & 600 grit, then oiled and the results is amazing. The previous owner of my boat must have lost interest somewhere along the way as it was in sad shape but I was dumbfounded at how resilient teak is. I was disappointed that even with the lightest of oils it still darkened more than I wanted but it looks great. The exterior is another story. Because of neglect the soft grain had almost all but disappeared which made for a very different approach. I used Cetol and have been pleased even though it covers some of the beauty of the wood. However it is much less maintenance than varnish. I might be inclined to try Armada on a future boat. But If I was able to get the teak smooth by sanding, and travel time to and from in the off-season was not a factor, Oil is the way I would go. It only takes a few minutes to keep up and the look is great. Now if someone would only come up with oil that makes the teak look as good as it does when wet that would be nice. Regards, Lysle
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Rob Rich
In defense of Varnish!
Steve Your question started with the teak oil vs. varnish debate, so I will weigh in against teak oil on the outside of the boat. You will probably have to apply it way too often, and I find it to be messy and too time consuming. I think the real issue hinges on how important the teak is in your opinion. My boat's PO didn't care about the wood, so he let it go. I happen to like the way well-varnished wood looks. It goes way back to tall ships and 30's era motorboats, just something about that deep, lacquered finish. I would never give up a day of sailing in order to varnish, but I will spend 5 minutes at the end of the day removing two peices of teak and taking them home to sand and finish them. Which brings me to varnish. There are two types of sailors - those who use varnish and those who don't. They probably don't sail much different from one another, and you probably can't pick them out in a crowd. And I gurantee you that the "varnish freaks" do NOT stay in the harbor when the wind blows - they of all people would rather be sailing, and generally are. But when you happen to catch one of their boats back its slip, you can clearly see which wood looks the best. There is no arguement among reasonable minds. Like LaDonna said (and I'm glad I believed her), Cetol has a distinctive look about it. Many say it is an orangey kind of hue. All I know is that it does not look like varnish (which allows the wood to glow), and it is just about as much work. If you really want your wood to look like a million bucks, go with a standard varnish. I have used West Marine's Skipper's Varnish with fantastic results. It has been on my teak for about 10 months now, and does not show a single sign of wear. Start with a solution of 50 percent varnish, and 50 percent mineral spirits. Do a couple coats of this thin mixture to seal the wood. Then increase the varnish with succesive coats, until you are using 100 percent varnish. Remember to keep coats as thin as possible. The thinner the coats, the less sanding between them. 8 to 10 coats should do you fine. I usually sand after the 3rd and 6th, sometimes not even that often. In the end, it is all a matter of what you like to look at. I love varnish, its smell, and its beautiful luster. And without sounding snooty (which I doubt anyone will ever accuse me of)it is a small part of what makes any boat into a yacht. Also, there is a reason it has been around for a few centuries... For more opinions you can check the archives... just look up the word teak. Best Regards, and have fun whatever you do! Rob
Steve Your question started with the teak oil vs. varnish debate, so I will weigh in against teak oil on the outside of the boat. You will probably have to apply it way too often, and I find it to be messy and too time consuming. I think the real issue hinges on how important the teak is in your opinion. My boat's PO didn't care about the wood, so he let it go. I happen to like the way well-varnished wood looks. It goes way back to tall ships and 30's era motorboats, just something about that deep, lacquered finish. I would never give up a day of sailing in order to varnish, but I will spend 5 minutes at the end of the day removing two peices of teak and taking them home to sand and finish them. Which brings me to varnish. There are two types of sailors - those who use varnish and those who don't. They probably don't sail much different from one another, and you probably can't pick them out in a crowd. And I gurantee you that the "varnish freaks" do NOT stay in the harbor when the wind blows - they of all people would rather be sailing, and generally are. But when you happen to catch one of their boats back its slip, you can clearly see which wood looks the best. There is no arguement among reasonable minds. Like LaDonna said (and I'm glad I believed her), Cetol has a distinctive look about it. Many say it is an orangey kind of hue. All I know is that it does not look like varnish (which allows the wood to glow), and it is just about as much work. If you really want your wood to look like a million bucks, go with a standard varnish. I have used West Marine's Skipper's Varnish with fantastic results. It has been on my teak for about 10 months now, and does not show a single sign of wear. Start with a solution of 50 percent varnish, and 50 percent mineral spirits. Do a couple coats of this thin mixture to seal the wood. Then increase the varnish with succesive coats, until you are using 100 percent varnish. Remember to keep coats as thin as possible. The thinner the coats, the less sanding between them. 8 to 10 coats should do you fine. I usually sand after the 3rd and 6th, sometimes not even that often. In the end, it is all a matter of what you like to look at. I love varnish, its smell, and its beautiful luster. And without sounding snooty (which I doubt anyone will ever accuse me of)it is a small part of what makes any boat into a yacht. Also, there is a reason it has been around for a few centuries... For more opinions you can check the archives... just look up the word teak. Best Regards, and have fun whatever you do! Rob
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Dan Lapp
Another for Oil
I like oil the best, too, and agree with another letter that Cetol is ugly, stains fiberglass, and doesn't last. Hey, my Catalina 27 was also built in '72, what's your hull number?
I like oil the best, too, and agree with another letter that Cetol is ugly, stains fiberglass, and doesn't last. Hey, my Catalina 27 was also built in '72, what's your hull number?
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