Interior Teak Care

[Robert Douglas]

Hi everyone, I tried to post this ealier today but think I failed to hit the post button, my apologies if it somehow shows-up twice. My wife and I purchased our new-to-us Cape Dory 30 MKII last July and we live-a-board here in Boston. At closing her interior teak looked amazing. After our first winter, not so much. We have dirt and general grime - as well as light scratches here and there. Would anyone be able to give us advice on how to properly clean and I guess condition our interior wood. Perhaps we should use teak cleaner and then maybe a high end furniture polish? Or perhaps Murphy's Oil Soap (but I heard this can cause residue build-up that might negatively impact the teak - not sure)? Any thoughts folks have would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you!!

[Paul D.]

First clarify how your interior teak is finished usually either oiled or varnished. I believe most CD’s were oiled but I am not sure with the CD30MkII. Navigator series 36’s were varnished. If it is indeed oiled, I would start with the least potent cleaners to see how it goes. Try using a little dish soap or laundry detergent in water, with maybe a little bleach 75/25 if you have mold present, and a soft scotch Brite pad or rag. See if it takes off the grunge. I have also used Fantastik with a rag or paper towel. (we use that a lot on board Femme as it is a fairly benign alkali cleaner and does not need rinsing.) Then if your teak is not varnished I would let dry and then rub in some good pure lemon oil with no silicone or waxes. If your wood is dry this may take a few applications.

Our oiled teak interior has been well used but still looks good and looks really, really good after a good lemon oiling which I do about every two seasons on a nice warm windy day. If you have varnish I would clean with only a rag and not a scotch Brite scrubby. In twenty years with Femme we’ve really only used the above for cleaning the interior with the exception of a household bathroom bleach based spray cleaner for the head because, well, you know.

Test out a few of these methods on an inconspicuous area and see how it goes. Others here may have some good ideas. I try to avoid marine specific products unless nothing else seems to work.

Good luck,

[jbenagh]

I use Murphy's soap for cleaning, but not very often. After a thorough drying, or without washing if not too dirty, I apply a coat or two of lemon oil. This usually lasts all season but my daughter used to add an additional treatment sometime during the summer on the high sunshine areas in the galley (CD30). You can usually tell by the color if a second coat is needed. Often I will only add the second coat in the areas that look like they need it.
Hope you're enjoying your boat! Did you spend the winter on board?
Jeff

[robwm]

How about "PineSol", has anyone used it and had good/bad experience? Thanks

[Robert Douglas]

Hi Paul, Jeff, and robwm -

Thank for all the great advice, really good to have direction on this. I believe our teak is oiled, it is the same finish as our previous boat, a Cape Dory 25D. Yes, I believe it is oiled. Love the gentle cleaning then lemon oil idea, I think I will go with this method. I did hear both good and negative stuff about Murphy's - but your idea of using it not too often sounds great - a good balance. I believe it has linseed oil in it, I can hear the teak saying "that feels good, thank you":). Jeff, we did live aboard this winter! Two of us on a 30 footer. Tight but totally fine for my wife and I. We moved from NH to Boston for work and had spend many winter nights on our 25D previously so thought we would give it a try full-time and check the life box - lived on a boat, lol! All went fine and now Spring/Summer is arriving - yay! We finally joined the CD Assocation and are looking forward to taking part in activities and maybe even the Maine sail this summer.

Thanks again to the group for the great advice,
Robert

[Cathy Monaghan]

How about "PineSol", has anyone used it and had good/bad experience? Thanks

Pine-Sol should not be used on unsealed, waxed or oiled wood. If you use it to clean the wood anyway, you will still need to seal it with teak, linseed, tung or lemon oil. I got tired of oiling the wood on our CD32 every year so we cleaned and varnished all the interior wood.

This might help:
https://www.practical-sailor.com/boat-m ... erior-teak

[JD-MDR]

I'm curious how to finish new teak veneer plywood. I don't think the interior of "Leoma" is varnished and I will soon replace some of the interior panels. I guess I can take one of the old pieces and ask an expert. If I can find one.

[Joe Myerson]

I rarely finish the interior teak and teak-veneer on my 25D, but once every other year or so, I wash the interior woodwork with Murphy's Oil Soap. Maybe once, sometimes twice a year, I wipe it with lemon oil. Of course, my cabin interior is small, so this is not a terrible burden.

--Joe

[John Stone]

How about "PineSol", has anyone used it and had good/bad experience? Thanks

Pine-Sol should not be used on unsealed, waxed or oiled wood. If you use it to clean the wood anyway, you will still need to seal it with teak, linseed, tung or lemon oil. I got tired of oiling the wood on our CD32 every year so we cleaned and varnished all the interior wood.

This might help:
https://www.practical-sailor.com/boat-m ... erior-teak

I'm with Cathy. Varnish all the way. But, if you don't want to go down that path which is a lot of work (very little to maintain for year and years) then the other comments seem like good options.

[RichardM]

We have used Watco Tung oil for years. Wipe on with cloth rag, buff after 20 minutes. Very easy to apply and lasts well.

[JD-MDR]

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Most of the woodwork in Leoma is in good condition. There is some water damage below the portlites at the v-berth and at the companionway. Those seem easy for me to restore but the cabin sole looks like way too much needs to come apart to replace them. Since I keep a rug runner at the salon I am thinking of just solidifying the bad parts with epoxy resin and painting brown. Hoping for some ideas.

[keneasley]

It really depends on how much you value the aesthetics versus functionality.

I saw a boat similar to yours a few years ago on which the owner had used that Nu_Teak flooring and it looked pretty good but not quite like real wood.

nuteak.jpg

I had tried to touch up the cabin sole on Felicity.
In this picture you can see that I had painted the sides with some brown rustoleum enamel paint.
That paint pretty well sealed the crumbly old wood and held it together and looked pretty good.
But the main area of the sole was old moldy veneered plywood which couldn't really be revarnished.

Bilge_Project_b16.JPG

I removed the sole completely and have no regrets. I kept a rug runner over it anyway.
Mine had a nice gelcoated fiberglass floor under that old, rotted cabin sole wood.
You could try removing a small area of the side or main floor and see if you have a similar floor under it.
It wasn't that bad of a job to remove all the screws and then chamfering and sealing the holes with marinetex. And I gained an extra 3/4" of ceiling height which allows me to stand up for once.

Bilge_Project_b19.JPG

[JD-MDR]

Trying out the new forum. Ive been cleaning up the interior I used scraps ( about 5 pc ) to do that small teak and holly sole at the v-berth. Someday I will rebuild all the sole with Actual teak boards. The hardwood store here cant get holly. I can probably get it online through a marine lumber place. Here is photos before and after

[gonesail]

i like the look of of a gelcoat sole. very functional especially if you have a rug.

[keneasley]

Very nice work on the sole in the v-berth.
Someday I may develop the woodworking skills to try that myself.
For now I just throw a rug over the sole and forget about it.

Bilge_Project_b20.jpg