Painting Exterior Teak

[oldragbaggers]

We made the very difficult decision today to paint the exterior teak trim on our Cape Dory 33. Yes, we know it should be a felony, and no, we wouldn't do it if we didn't feel we had to....but at this point it's either that or we need to replace it.

We do not have the time, skill, or resources to replace all the wood ourselves and we can't afford to have someone else do it right now. But what we can do, and what we did do on our Cabo Rico caprail (which was in a similar state), is use epoxy to repair the damage and glue up cracks, fill in the ridges and gouges instead of trying to sand them away, fair everything up nice and paint it.

This poor boat has been neglected and unprotected in the Baltimore winters and summers for too long, plus suffered some damage in a storm, so the condition of our wood goes far beyond just being grey and dirty. We have wood that, first of all, had been sanded too aggressively over close to 30 years so a lot of the wood is getting too thin. I had to remove a lot of screws and counter sink them deeper just to be able to get wood bungs to stay in the toe rail at all. On top of that we have gouges all over the place from the storm and other mistreatment/mishaps, sections of damaged rub rail that need to be replaced, and very deep grooves and ridges from years of weathering. We also have wood that is dried out to the point of splitting. I spent several weeks last year working on parts of it without great results and didn't even get to the worse parts of it. The amount of sanding I would have to do to get to decent wood would just be too much and that still wouldn't address all the damage.

The eyebrows were too thin and damaged even for that so I think we are going to just leave them off and fill the screw holes. We are painting the cabin and deck anyway. If we feel we need the visual break that the eyebrows gave we can paint on a stripe or use vinyl striping.

We plan to use the Pettit Easypoxy Brightwork Brown. That will maintain the traditional look, at least from a distance. I am not worried about treating the wood so that someone could return it to varnish in the future. If it could be done and look decent, I would do it myself. I think this wood is beyond that. Removing the paint in the future would just expose a lot of patches and repairs. We know it will no doubt affect resale value but that can't be our primary concern right now. This is our boat and we need to make it nice for ourselves within the time and money constraints we have.

In my fantasy I win the lottery, pull the boat in to Robinhood Marine someday and say "make her look like she did when she was new, I'll be back to get her in a couple of months." But then I wake up......

So arrest me....I know I'm committing a felonious act but I plead justified.

[Jim Walsh]

At least you have a reasonable justification and haven't just decided this is the most expedient method of dealing with your brightwork. We all have to deal with the neglect of previous owners in our own way. Not everyone has the time, skills, and cash to keep our boats looking factory fresh thirty+ years down the road. Good luck.

[Bristol14]

I have a friend who's building a wooden Friendship Sloop (actually he's rebuilding the boat using the old rotted timbers as a template). He recently told me that he was painting instead of varnishing his bright work. When I questioned this, he explained that most old wooden boats were painted.

[Jim Davis]

Let me suggest Epifanes Yacht Enamel. I used their Dado Brown, number 11. On my boat, not a CD, I have trailboards, and name board and hailing port board. These have been almost impossible to keep varnished and working on them from a dinghy - nuff said. The paint is almost indistinguishable from varnish at two fathoms unless one is being very critical and is often complimented. I painted them two years ago and it is still holding up. In preparation I did strip all the old varnish, fill dings, and sand. My rails and cabin trim I still varnish.

https://www.epifanes.com/page/yacht-enamel
https://www.epifanes.com/page/colors

[Steve Laume]

My only question is , why limit yourself to brown? There is a virtual rainbow of color choices out there, Steve.

[Jim Walsh]

My only question is , why limit yourself to brown? There is a virtual rainbow of color choices out there, Steve.

This is why some restraint must be shown These two "artists" we're anchored with me in Convict Bay, Bermuda.

[oldragbaggers]

Let me suggest Epifanes Yacht Enamel. I used their Dado Brown, number 11. On my boat, not a CD, I have trailboards, and name board and hailing port board. These have been almost impossible to keep varnished and working on them from a dinghy - nuff said. The paint is almost indistinguishable from varnish at two fathoms unless one is being very critical and is often complimented. I painted them two years ago and it is still holding up. In preparation I did strip all the old varnish, fill dings, and sand. My rails and cabin trim I still varnish.

https://www.epifanes.com/page/yacht-enamel
https://www.epifanes.com/page/colors

Thank you very much for the suggestion on the paint. I am using Epifanes varnish on the interior of the boat (I do love varnished teak and fortunately the interior is in great shape so I can satisfy my craving for brightwork down there).

[oldragbaggers]

My only question is , why limit yourself to brown? There is a virtual rainbow of color choices out there, Steve.

I just want to keep the look somewhat traditional. I am hoping that at least from a distance it will still have the classic Cape Dory look. That might be a little harder to pull off with a color on the wood.

I am already breaking tradition with my canvas color which will Sunbrella Spa, rather than the brown, burgundy, or beige you usually see on a Cape Dory.

[oldragbaggers]

My only question is , why limit yourself to brown? There is a virtual rainbow of color choices out there, Steve.

This is why some restraint must be shown These two "artists" we're anchored with me in Convict Bay, Bermuda.

Oh My Goodness.....

I have nothing against artistic expression, but that would definitely not be for me.

[Dick Villamil]

After you sand and prepare the teak make sure that you wipe it down with acetone (use latex gloves) and do it in an open space. The acetone removes the surface teak oil allowing the paint (or varnish or epoxy) to adhere better.

[Capt Hook]

After you sand and prepare the teak make sure that you wipe it down with acetone (use latex gloves) and do it in an open space. The acetone removes the surface teak oil allowing the paint (or varnish or epoxy) to adhere better.

I have been reading these threads because I know I have some work to do on the teak of the boat I recently purchased.

I thought I had read somewhere to put a coat of teak oil on the wood before applying the varnish. This goes counter to what you're suggesting.

Any thoughts?

[oldragbaggers]

After you sand and prepare the teak make sure that you wipe it down with acetone (use latex gloves) and do it in an open space. The acetone removes the surface teak oil allowing the paint (or varnish or epoxy) to adhere better.

Too much oil in our teak is definitely not a problem. Any surface oil it once had has long since weathered away, and the penetrating epoxy will seal up the rest of it.

I have been reading these threads because I know I have some work to do on the teak of the boat I recently purchased.

I thought I had read somewhere to put a coat of teak oil on the wood before applying the varnish. This goes counter to what you're suggesting.

Any thoughts?

The reason I will not be using teak oil is because I am not varnishing, I am painting, and I will be doing a lot of epoxy work on it prior to the paint. My wood is so severely weathered that a lot of the pulp is gone from the surface layer of the wood, there are very deep ridges that need to be filled, some small chunks of wood missing (not big enough to warrant scarfing in new wood but too large to leave as they are), and gouges and cracks that need to be repaired/filled. My wood is no longer nice, dense and water repellent, at least not at the surface. I'm sure there is some of that teak in there somewhere but I would need to sand a long way to get to it, which seems counter productive at this point since it has already been sanded so much over the years it is already too thin in some places. We also have a piece of broken rub rail and a slider on the hatch that needs to be replaced. Since the wood no longer needs to "match" we can have them made out of cheaper mahogany.

My plan is to first treat with penetrating epoxy. This will seep deep into the wood where ever it is porous and fill the voids from the pulp that has weathered away. Then I will be filling ridges and gouges, and repairing chips and cracks with an epoxy fairing compound. Last step before painting will be to coat the wood with a layer of regular epoxy. In effect my wood will no longer be fully wood. I think this is what I need to do to get it repaired and strengthened while leaving what surface remains, and even building up the surface just a bit. The epoxy also provides a good surface for the paint to adhere to. Once it is painted it should also be relatively maintenance free. At least as much so as any other painted surface on a boat. I used this exact same process on the caprail of our old 1971 Cabo Rico and it worked out really well. After I was done the rail was perfectly smooth and once painted looked quite pretty. There were no signs of all the damage and neglect that lay underneath.

Several people (on another forum) have said to me that I should varnish before painting in case anyone else wants to remove the paint and return it to varnished wood in the future. I don't see that as a possibility with the amount of patches and repairs that need to be made and that's why I am not bothering with the varnishing step. Besides, it will have a layer of clear epoxy on the top of it, plus the penetrating epoxy, which should serve the same purpose. I think if anyone ever wants to return this boat to varnished wood, and it may be us at some point in the future, the wood will need to be replaced. Simple as that. It's just that we are involved right now in a refit that is already very expensive and is going to take every minute of the time we have available, and this just doesn't seem to rate high enough on our priority list to warrant taking such a huge chunk of time and money out of the budget. We have seen traditional boats with their woodwork painted before and if it is done well and in good taste it can look very nice. It seems to give the boat more of a "workboat" appearance, rather than a "yachty" appearance, but we don't have a problem with that. Our goal is that everything is clean, functional, safe, comfortable and well maintained. We will try to preserve the classic appearance of the boat as much as we can within those parameters and the constraints of the time and money we have available.

We are looking to retire in April 2017 (God willing and we can sell our house) and our goal is to have Sojourner III ready to set sail from Baltimore headed south no later than fall of that year. Everything decision we make is geared towards making that happen.

[Jim Walsh]

My only question is , why limit yourself to brown? There is a virtual rainbow of color choices out there, Steve.

I am already breaking tradition with my canvas color which will Sunbrella Spa, rather than the brown, burgundy, or beige you usually see on a Cape Dory.

This may be 'Spa', I'm not positive. This boat (Amica, Brewster Ma.) was anchored near me in Bermuda. It went very well with his cove stripe and boot top color choices. I wouldn't go any darker if I was going to be spending a lot of time down south.
Notice that his full cockpit enclosure has screening aft which doesn't allow direct sunlight into the cockpit.

[oldragbaggers]

My only question is , why limit yourself to brown? There is a virtual rainbow of color choices out there, Steve.

I am already breaking tradition with my canvas color which will Sunbrella Spa, rather than the brown, burgundy, or beige you usually see on a Cape Dory.

This may be 'Spa', I'm not positive. This boat (Amica, Brewster Ma.) was anchored near me in Bermuda. It went very well with his cove stripe and boot top color choices. I wouldn't go any darker if I was going to be spending a lot of time down south.
Notice that his full cockpit enclosure has screening aft which doesn't allow direct sunlight into the cockpit.

These are my fabrics. The colors may not be exact on the computer screen but I have swatches and they all go together very nicely.

Sailcovers in the Spa Marine canvas and with the same color upholstery fabric for the v-berth and quarter berth


Settees in the main salon in Cabaret Blue Haze:


Throw pillows in the cabin in Gavin Mist:


I may do some cockpit pillows in Kiawah Spa, it is Marine grade canvas.

[Sea Hunt Video]

Becky and Lance:

Given your substantial restoration efforts with your Cape Dory 33, have you given any thought to replacing the really deteriorated teak with new teak and then varnish or teak oil or Cetol Marine Natural Teak (my favorite) instead of painting it

By replacing the deteriorated teak you will return her to her natural beauty. For me at least, part of the classic beauty of a Cape Dory sailboat is the use of teak.

Just a thought.