Cetol advice

[robwm]

Starting to plan for touching-up the toe-rails and trim which were done using Cetol by the PO. Mostly, the finish has held up relatively well but I am starting to get small patches where the finish is off entirely and the wood is beginning to gray.

I am planning to use Cetol for this as stripping and switching to a varnish is simply not in the cards time wise. While there is a lot of good advice in the archives I am still not quite clear regarding the differences between the three Cetol base coats and hoping for feedback regarding these from those of you that have used the various products.

My biggest question is what is the actual difference between Cetol Marine, Cetol Marine Natural Teak, and, Cetol Marine Light ? I understand that I should use one of these as the base coat for the bare areas and then follow-up with Cetol Marine Gloss for protection. Is color/pigmentation the only difference between the base products or are they to be used in different applications? Haven't been able to find a good description of those differences other than discussion in the archives about differing opacity. Any feedback particularly regarding the amount of "color" that they impart will be highly appreciated.

Thanks in advance ...
Robert

[jfischgrund]

I am a big fan of Cetol and have re-finished all of the brightwork with it on my 27" My brightwork, especially the rub rails and eyebrows had sizeable patches of gray, and I found that I had to sand those down until you could see the teak and then try to blend in whichever Cetol the previous owner used. I had so many bad spots I ended up stripping/sanding the entire rub rail ad refinishing it, and then of course doing the other side, and since those looked better than everything else . . . . I think the difference in the three Cetols you mentioned is the tint. My understanding is that you should have at least two coats of the base before using the clear gloss -- there are good instructions on their website. Good luck.

[Joe Myerson]

I'be been using Cetol for many years. I used to apply Cetol Marine as the base coat and two coats Cetol Light over that, followed sometimes by a coat of Gloss.

Now I exclusively use Cetol Natural Teak. The original Cetol Marine, if it is still available, has a rather synthetic orange hue which didn't seem bad until I discovered Cetol Light. Once again, the Light is very nice--but the Natural really looks natural.

Two seasons ago, after wrestling with my brightwork in a piecemeal manner, I left my 25D over the winter at Parker's Boat Yard. They did a complete refinish. It looked, and still looks glorious.

They used to apply two coats of Cetol Natural and top it off with Cetol Gloss. But now Bob, their painting guru, says they apple three coats of the Natural, using a good quality fiber brush, brushing in the direction of the grain. It dries to a beautiful semi-gloss finish.

This spring I reapplied two coats of Natural only to sections that needed refinishing. Most of these spots were on the toe rail and rub-rail, although the @#$% eyebrows needed a total refinish for some reason.

Follow the directions on the label. If you're using Cetol for the first time, I'd recommend using a heat grin and scraper to remove the old finish. BE CAREFUL NOT TO SCORCH YOUR BRIGHTWORK.

--Joe

[robwm]

Thanks for the feedback "jfischgrund" and Joe.

Joe's comments regarding the degree of tint of the various finishes is what I was curious about and is very helpful since it is based on the actual look you observed.

Now, if I could only order the outside temps to subside into a more manageable 70 degrees, rather than the current near 100, before tackling this ....