Teak finish preferences and why?

[Bob Ohler]

Wsonntag, over in the Eye Candy forum, mentioned that he could not bear the thought of the amount of work necessary to varnish the toe/rub rails on his CD31. Wsonnatg uses oil on his toe/rub rails. (His varnish work everywhere else looks sensational!)

I thought I would start a good old-fashioned CDSOA discussion that may go on for a few pages.

On deck, what is your teak finish of choice, and why? This is an open discussion. Varnish, Cetol, oil, or au naturel? Foam brushes, bristle brushes or application with a lint-free rag?

What are your favorite brands and which ones do you avoid? Do you have a recipe for homemade for your finishes or thinners?

Let the discussion begin!

[Paul D.]

I have striven for simplicity and function on Femme wherever possible over the years of ownership I have had with her. When we got her the teak was in its negative final years of a bunch of coats of varnish. In one of the few wise decisions I've made in my life, I did not prioritize the brightwork for the first few, nay three years or so. When I got to it the job of removing the old finish was largely complete.

However, now I look at her, quite possibly the best her brightwork has looked, and I find I use four different finishes on the teak aboard. Sigh. There are reasons though. A list format may work best here...

Toerails: Signature Finish Honey Teak - Super durable and long lasting. It's acrylic after all.
Cockpit Coamings, Dorades and hand rails: Cetol Light and Gloss - OK So I'm lazy
Hatchboards & Companionway Hatch Interior trim: Clipper Clear Varnish - Previous Owner
Cockpit Sole Grate, Cockpit Table & Companionway Screen Hatch Boards: Teak oil - Traction. Plus, you want to varnish four feet of grate with all those itty bitty squares? Hell no! It's bare or oiled dude.

The interior teak was as original, oiled and pretty dry by the time we got her. I've used pure lemon oil (no silicones, like Formby's or something) once every year or two and that works really well and looks great. Plus, you get a little high applying it if you're not paying attention.

[wsonntag]

Well since my name was invoked to start this discussion, I'll add a point about work on the OTHER boat I help take care of the 1888 Racing Yacht ELF (see http://www.cyrg.org). The strip fir decks of ELF are now finished with a product I've not heard of before called Coelan. See http://www.coelan-boat.com/home We were having a very tough time keeping finish on the deck, it takes beating in the sun and with a racing crew of 10 or 11. We also threw glass grit into the last couple of coats for traction. Seems to be holding up well.

I don't have any experience with this material other than this application but it certainly seems like it might work on say, toe and rub rails? I would hesitate because of two concerns, one of which I mentioned in my prior posts. It may last a long time but when it fails, what then, inch by inch with a scraper. Also, toxicity, after 40 years of amateur boat keeping and boatyard work I'm much more cautious than I might once have been. Phenolic resin varnish is not blameless and I also like the smell!

PS if you visit the CYRG webpage, check out the photograph tab, and then the Elf Classic Yacht Race photos for 2016 and 2017. My CD31 sailed the 2016 race and a 1962 Alberg 35 won the 2017 edition in heavy air! I raced Alberg 30s and 35s over the years. You get a heavy air race and they are going to win or place every time. Cape Dorys are always welcome to this annual Annapolis to St. Michaels race! 2018 race date TBD.

Cheers!

[bottomscraper]

Most of the exterior I use Cetol Light & Cetol Gloss. I re-coat everything with Cetol Gloss every year but a few spots on the toe rail typically need a bit more work. If weather permits I try to do this in the fall after the boat comes out of the water but before the winter cover goes on. It seems to hold up better if it has the full winter to cure.

The drop boards are Epifanes Clear Gloss Varnish. I did these about 5 year ago with about 8 coats and haven't touched them since. They are protected by the dodger.

Most of the interior is Epifanes Rubbed Effect Varnish.

The cabin sole was redone last winter. I debated many options with myself but ended up using "Minwax Super Fast-Drying Polyurethane for Floors" for a few reasons 1) No sanding between coats required 2) Fast drying 3) Non-slip designed for floors 4) Warm tone (rather than water clear).

The companionway ladder was done using Epifanes Rapid Coat & Rapid Clear, personally I wasn't thrilled with them and probably won't use them again.

[csoule13]

It's really interesting to hear folks describe using different products for different parts of the boat. I'm going to be scraping the toe rail down to bare wood over the winter and coating in, well, something, in the spring.

There's a guy at the marina that swears by a linseed soap and Deks Olje two part varnish. His Pearson 30 looks amazing.

[tjr818]

...Cockpit Sole Grate, Cockpit Table & Companionway Screen Hatch Boards: Teak oil - Traction....

Teak Oil on that beautiful cockpit table Wow,that is outstanding. I don't see any rings from wet beer bottles. I used varnish and now I am wondering if that was the right choice, it sure looks good at the moment.

[Frenchy]

Paul, your coaming boards are absolutely beautiful. How did you get them so light colored? - Jean

[ric14854]

I am giving the new Petit product "Sea Gold" a try. Did the bowsprit at haul out this fall. It was in pretty rough shape. The dark staining is from the mastic that was under the anchor rollers pretty much on bare teak. Toe rails and cockpit to follow in the spring.

Attracted to it as quick dry - 2 hours to re-coat. Finish 4 applications in a day. Supposed to be long lasting as well. That remains to be seen.

PO used Cetol on all the finishes. It had been on market for awhile, and he had moved on to a new boat so finishes were getting pretty old.

[Paul D.]

Jean,

Thanks. The coamings are three coats of Cetol Light and two of Cetol gloss. I had let them go bare for about three years. Then when I was sure I had time to actually finish them I cleaned with Teka two part teak cleaner, (A real frickin' mess that was.) let dry and then lightly sanded, wiped with tack cloth and applied the Cetol Light. You can see they are somewhat lighter than the toerails which have the Signature Finish Honey Teak, but it is not very noticeable. Unless a fellow sailor with teak comes up and we start chinwagging about brightwork!

The teak cockpit table came with the boat, and we love it. (Consider they're now $1,000 for a new one from Edson.) I take it home every few years and clean and oil along with the cockpit sole grating, which usually needs re glueing. Since the fully opened sides are closed together when stowed on the binnacle, that surface lasts much longer than the single leaf section surface.

By the way I forgot to mention the eyebrows aboard Femme are bare. So I guess that makes five different types of finish. I'll get to those at some point. My brother frowned when I dryly suggested pulling them off and painting a brown stripe in place...

[Dick Kobayashi]

To paraphrase our wiseman, John Vigor, teak needs no finish, only owners do.
In 2001 I purchased Susan B a boat that had never had its teak treated. That silver grey is comfort, and nicely requires no effort.