Teak and holly finishing

Aug 17, 2013
816
Pearson P30 202 Ottawa/Gatineau
Hey everyone, I just scored a crazy deal on some teak and holly plywood, just need to finish it to have a nice sheen to it.
How would you go about it?

I was thinking of giving it a coat or two of epoxy and then a few coats of teak oil or would youuse something else?
 
Jan 11, 2014
11,319
Sabre 362 113 Fair Haven, NY
Teak oil on epoxy will leave you with a hockey rink in the cabin. Nothing against hockey of course, just don't think it can be played safely on small sailboat. :rolleyes: Just sayin'

Putting epoxy on the bottom side might be a good idea. This will help prevent the plywood from absorbing moisture and may prolong the life of the cabin sole.

Finish the sole with many coats of a good quality semi-gloss or satin varnish. It will look better if the first several coats are high gloss, the last coat should be the finish you want, satin or semi-gloss. Multiple coats of semi-gloss may leave the sole looking a bit muddy. Undercoating with gloss helps to prevent that and tell you when the gloss finish starts to show up, it is time to refinish the sole.

How thick is the plywood?
 
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Aug 17, 2013
816
Pearson P30 202 Ottawa/Gatineau
Justsomeguy it’s for the cabin sole

dlochner it is ¼inch and it will be on top of 3/4inch marine ply
 
Feb 21, 2013
4,638
Hunter 46 Point Richmond, CA
Not sure about epoxy coating but this youtube video shows how to varish the teak and holly paying special attention to cutting the varnish with mineral spirits during each coat.

 
Sep 25, 2008
1,096
CS 30 Toronto
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Jan 11, 2014
11,319
Sabre 362 113 Fair Haven, NY
Not sure about epoxy coating but this youtube video shows how to varish the teak and holly paying special attention to cutting the varnish with mineral spirits during each coat.

The guy in the video is using a pretty standard varnishing process and is using a good quality varnish, Epifanes. I'm a big fan of Epifanes Wood Finish. This finish is designed to work well on oily woods such as teak and has the highly desirable characteristic of not requiring sanding between coats if recoated within 72 hours.

He stores his brush in diesel fuel that has been died red. This just seems foolish. Why store the brush in a solvent that is not compatible with the varnish? I have brushes that are approaching 20 years old that I store in mineral spirits, it works and the solvent is compatible with most varnish and polyurethane clear finishes.

How do you plan to bond the teak and holly ply to the marine ply?
 
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May 25, 2012
4,333
john alden caravelle 42 sturgeon bay, wis
my $0.02.
47 seasons now on aeolus. the cabin deck is real teak and holly, not plywood. i put 20 coats of epifanes high gloss varnish. it took 15 coats to properly fill all the pores in the grain. then every 2 or 3 years i lightly sand and add two coats. high gloss is harder than the semi gloss. i recommend high gloss only. the traction in all conditions is great. the durability of the high gloss is very good.

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tradition is, you use high gloss on the wood you walk on or is high traffic stuff like door. you use semi gloss on every thing else. that way you don't overwhelm your eyes with the glare of the high gloss.
semi gloss is too soft for the sole with real world use.

old school baby.
 
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Jun 21, 2004
2,532
Beneteau 343 Slidell, LA
Hey everyone, I just scored a crazy deal on some teak and holly plywood, just need to finish it to have a nice sheen to it.
How would you go about it?
I used Daly's finishing products many years ago on my previous boat to refinish the cabin sole; was very pleased with the outcome.
Applied 6-8 coats of Daly's floor fin or pro fin. Very easy to apply; a little goes quite a ways, especially cutting first few coats with decreasing amount of mineral spirits. Was hesitant to use it because I was concerned about the sole becoming slippery; It really wasn't a problem.
 
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May 25, 2012
4,333
john alden caravelle 42 sturgeon bay, wis
i do not varnish the sides or the bottom of the boards. i want the wood to breath. tradition says that you cover the wood with epoxy and that will lead to rot. as the age of wood boat went out and fiberglass took over, some tried to epoxy wood hulls and decks. that was a death sentence for the vessel. rot, rot, rot.
 
May 25, 2012
4,333
john alden caravelle 42 sturgeon bay, wis
aeolus was built in 66'. i have only totally redone the cabin sole once. it's been 25 years since i did that. wears like a gym floor. :)
 
Jul 26, 2009
291
. . .
However you choose to finish it, as soon as you're done immediately drop something heavy on it so you get that first "floor ding" over with...

Epoxied and put poly on ours. Has held up great and still looks new several years later. Enjoy the results, completely dresses up the cabin.
 
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capta

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Jun 4, 2009
4,766
Pearson 530 Admiralty Bay, Bequia SVG
If you want it to hold up as a walking surface, not a show piece, use the same stuff they use on basketball courts. Talk about "tough as nails".
 
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PaulK

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Dec 1, 2009
1,222
Sabre 402 Southport, CT
i do not varnish the sides or the bottom of the boards. i want the wood to breath. tradition says that you cover the wood with epoxy and that will lead to rot. as the age of wood boat went out and fiberglass took over, some tried to epoxy wood hulls and decks. that was a death sentence for the vessel. rot, rot, rot.
If water gets into wood that has been epoxied then rot is almost guaranteed. The epoxy keeps the wood from getting out (evaporating) and the moist conditions foster things that grow and eat wood. However, not expoxying the exposed edges of plywood - which is what the OP is using for his cabin sole: 1/4" teak & holly ply glued (epoxied) to 3/4" marine ply - allows the end grain of the plies to wick moisture into the interior of the boards. This will rapidly cause delamination and THEN rot. Expoxying the edges should prevent this, by keeping water OUT, but on a boat, water does seem to get everywhere eventually.
 
Oct 22, 2014
20,989
CAL 35 Cruiser #21 moored EVERETT WA
On outside seats I used West systems Resin and their Clear epoxy to give them a hard water proof coating.

Then I bought a quart on sale of TotalBoat Gleam 2.0 Spar Varnish. Loved that I could and once then add coats to build up the layers without sanding in-between coats. You may re-coat after 1 hour at 80°F, 3 hours at 65°F, or 8 hours at 50°F.. If you over coat you have 48 hours before you need to sand. I did three coats day one and started on 3 more coats on day 2. Flow out was exceptional. Gleam is a traditional oil-based marine varnish available in gloss or satin finish.

I suspect it would work well on your project.
This video by Andy from Boatworks Today, helped me decide.
 
Jun 21, 2004
2,532
Beneteau 343 Slidell, LA
Gleam is a traditional oil-based marine varnish available in gloss or satin finish.
I suspect it would work well on your project.
This video by Andy from Boatworks Today, helped me decide
If Andy uses & recommends Gleam, it’s got to be good!
 
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