Teak rehab recommendations?

[Ben Miller]

I'm the new owner of a 1978 Typhoon. She's mostly in excellent shape, but the teak, while not necessarily neglected, has seen better days. (See the attached photo for an example. One of the worse parts, really.) In the long term, the best course of action is probably to pull it all off and refinish or replace as necessary, but this year I'm more interested in getting out on the water. Anyone have any recommendations for me on how they would handle this situation? What can I do to spruce up my woodwork and give it some protection without delaying my launch date by weeks (or months, more likely)? If it matters, the teak was most recently coated with Daly's Seafin Teak Oil.

Thanks for the advice!

[tjr818]

That sure looks to me as though it should be replaced. Perhaps it could be repaired with epoxy, but if it has been saturated with teak oil, I don't think epoxy will bond to it. I would go sailing this season and take that piece off at the end of the season and duplicate it with a new piece of teak. On our CD27 that piece is thicker that the standard 13/16", if that is true with yours a piece of teak that thick might be hard to find and you might have to buy six feet of it just to replace that small section. Maybe someone else has a better idea, but if it was me, I would just go sailing this season.

[ariasis]

That's pretty rough. I'd sail it this season and pull it off next season. I'd look for some place that has over run scrap teak and replace that little piece. Hopefully the rest is in better condition. You might try west system with 410 fairing compound and teak saw dust mixed in for color but those are some pretty big cracks.

[moctrams]

I'm so tired of sanding, treating teak. I am slowly replacing all my teak with this product:

http://www.plasteak.com/

Meanwhile I use:

http://www.awlgrip.com/products/clear-c ... lwood.aspx

[Skeep]

I don't know if this helps you or not, but this is the assortment of teak I pulled off Baggy Wrinkles in January of 2013....



I did not have the incredible splitting that you show on yours. Mine was simply without any protection at all, or nearly all. So the process of sorting that out is a long road, but worthy. It also looks like your small sections which connect to the cuddy cabin sides are not very thick. Perhaps they were a replacement of someone else? Not sure.

And now, using Epifanes, my coamings continue to look like this:



I guess I agree with others, I'd sail this season, and use the long cold winter, to remove all teak and work on it with attention to detail later. Looks like you may be refabricating this winter some of that stuff.

[Ben Miller]

Sounds like a plan! Also what I wanted to hear. The toe rails will need to come off at some point anyways: I think I'm getting some drips through the fasteners along them, so I was planning on pulling them off (this winter) and re-bedding them.

Here's another question: Most of the teak isn't as bad as those corner pieces, but pretty much all of it has some significant raising of the grain. When I pull it off, is it advisable to sand it smooth?

[Skeep]

I did mine within reason, as the subsequent coats of varnish were very capable at helping to fill-in some of them. I note too that I used a matt-finish for my first iteration of varnish, i.e. for a couple of years. I recently redid my teak in Epifanes gloss. Gloss shows imperfections more than matt. In that photo above, it is matt while wet just after being coated again for the upteenth time or so. I was not trying for a mirror finish as much as a protective finish. I think I achieved that. Mirror finishes are for my cars instead.

[Dave and Kathy]

When I restored our 1976 Typhoon, Josephine, we had the same issue. Since the long run of the coaming boards was in better shape than the forward end pieces, I decided to try stabilizing the end pieces instead of replacing all of it. While both coaming boards were off for re-finishing, I mixed up a batch of System 3 epoxy and wood flour and forced it into the cracks. After sanding and finishing with Cetol afterward, it looked pretty good. Our wood trim had been neglected before we bought her, so there was little-to-no previously-applied residual oil finish to challenge adhesion. Also, because the teak was old, there was little natural oil left either. It's been 7 years now and I still think it was worth saving the originals.

[fishsail]

Mine looked just like that. I made new ones out of Mahogany and sprayed with Awlwood. looks better than new.

[Jim Walsh]

Mine looked just like that. I made new ones out of Mahogany and sprayed with Awlwood. looks better than new.

That's Awl-some!
I just couldn't help myself. It really came out fantastic.

[Ben Miller]

Ooooooooo. Someday!

[tjr818]

That is museum quality Well done I can not wait to see how that holds up. If and when we make new coaming boards I might go that way too -- or maybe I'll go the maintenance free gray ??? I have been sticking with three coats of Cetol Natural Teak followed by a coat or two of the Cetol Clear Gloss. On the few small pieces of teak that we have replaced I am using Polyurethane Spar Varnish. I know with the old non-poly spar varnish seven coats was the normal recommendation. The can of Poly recommends three coats. Right now I am at four.
Any advice there