Teak Cleaners

[Bob Booth]

I need to refurbish the teak trim on a C-27. Any suggestions for products that work and won't harm the gelcoat and also the wax I just put on?

 

[sloopercat]

Depends

There are two approaches. One is the varnish route, other is the non-film forming oil/silicone route. To me, I am a paint chemist, the varnish is temporary and is a pain to remove and redo. The product I use on my 27 is Teak Wonder. The kit comes with a cleaner, a brightner, and and oil. Just did mine this weekend for the first time this season. I go back over it with the oil bout every 2-3 weeks(20 min max). To me, this is less bother than the varnish approach. But hey, to each his own.My '78 wood was so weather worn that I removed it all and used a joiner or router or sander as needed to restore the wood to like new. Bought new coaming box moldings from Catalina as those were far gone.Enjoy!

 

[patrick boole]

the old fashioned way

this is going to save you a whole lot of time and money and will work better then any product you can purchase.buy some oxcylic acid. comes in a power form. west marine has it or find some in a hardward store.forget about what the direction on the can say.boil some water and then add about half the botle of acid to your water. if it is more then a quart of water add most of the bottle. it will disolve and then put on some rubber gloves and take a nylon brush and scrub the teak with this mixture. go over all the teak and scrub and apply. use all you water mixture and wait for about ten more monutes and then with a high pressure hose rince off. will not hurt fiberglass. after it dry you will have the color back to the original again and then you can sand and either apply varnish or teak oil. i use the oil and use a brush to liberly apply the oil. let it sit and then later on you can keep applying it. 5-6 coats is good. wash the wood and reapply oil and it will always look good.

 

[Dave]

Teaking

Just finished doing my C27 last week...First I used "blue" masking tape around all wood areas (This saves the polish) I then used Te-Ka A. You let it sit for about 10 minutes then follow by neutralizing with Te-Ka B (Check page 395 of Westmarine Master Catalog for Te-Ka products). Scrub a bit with a nylon brush (do not use a brass brush since it will damage wood grain) and then wash away. Let dry and use a vibrating sander (about 80 grit)..Then 120 grit and apply teak oil using a foam rubber type paint applicator (One inch size worked just fine). Sand in oil with 600 grit paper. After about five minutes wipe off all excess oil with a soft cloth (Old undershirts are super). Entire job took about three hours and looks fantastic. Good luck....