Teak care

[Bart15842]

I have 240 with 5 exposed pieces of teak. I can clean them and they look great until they dry and then its back to gray. Does anyone know of way to came them looking new? I have talked to East Coast Teak Company who mills most of the teak used on Hunters and practically every boat that has teak and even they don't have an answer. Somebody suggested motor oil.

 

[Steve D]

Cleaning is fine but....

Bart:I do not know what you are using to clean the teak. I like the two part cleaners the best. This is basically an acid that cleans the wood and then the neutralizer spots the reaction.Once you have it nice and clean and dry, you can give it a light sanding. This will make the wood look new again. Be sure you do not use a stiff brush when cleaning. This tends to remove the soft wood and then all you are left with is the raised grain. Once your wood is bright you need to consider either cetol, varnish or the other variants on the market. For my money, cetol is the way to go. If you have covers for the wood, it may last for several years if properly applied.Varnish may look better and if covered will also last a long time.

 

[Stan]

Sanding and wetting and cleaning, oh my!

Bart, I had the same problem with the teak on my boat, i'm not sure of the overall condition of your teak other than greying, but mine was many many years neglected and needed more than just brightening, I chose to refurbish the wood. Basically a friend and I spent a lot of our free time over a couple of weeks on a fairly simple process,,the first step is to sand the wood, wet it ( to soak in and swell the wood ) repeat, repeat, then repeat with finer grit sandpaper, repeat, then finer grit paper, repeat, etc... until I ended up with glass smooth teak,then hit it with teak cleaner, then teak brightener, then a sealer. it looks beautiful and I get a lot of complements on it. unfortunately it's a lot of work, and be sure to allow the wood to dry thoroughly between sandings and before sealing.In the long run I'm much happier than I would have been if I'd bought new teak instead. Good luck with it, whatever you plan to do.

 

[Forrest Clark]

Motor Oil?

I used to know someone who glossed up his tires with motor oil. It looked good at first but it really attracted dirt. I have a 23.5 and remove all of the external teak -except the motor mount. I clean the wood using a soft brush and plain water with a little bleach added. I then sand lightly and let it dry. After this I apply 3 coats of boiled linseed oil allowing time to soak in and dry between coats. This will last about 1 year in the sun and is easy to reapply. I have been using this method for ten years and have been very satisfied. The boiled linseed oil can be found in the paint section of most any home improvement stores. I think it is less than $5 for a quart which will do more than one application on a boat with little exposed teak like ours.