wanna see Teaqua oil on a CD?

[rtbates]

Teaqua oil website has added a few photos of Seraph's teak after I applied their oil.

Bottom of first page and under "Family Photos"

Amassing stuff that oil!

http://www.teaqua.com/

[Michael Abramson]

It looks beautiful in the photos. How long has it been on and how is it holding up? How does water affect it, for example if it wicks under the edge of a toe rail?

Did you sand smooth before application or apply to open grain?

I am willing to try it on my boat if it seems to last a while. The Semco I have used in the past sinks into the grain and leaves a orangish powerdery residue that is uneven and not attractive after a couple of months.

Thanks.

[rtbates]

So far it's holding up wonderfully. The pictures were taken shortly after application. It's been 2 months. It looks EXACTLY the same. Maybe a tad lighter.

I applied three coats. Brush on liberal amount, wait 5-10 minutes and rub off excess with a rag.

The teak was stripped and sanded with 80 grit. After first coat I wet sanded the teak with 220.

Water beads up. That's the beauty there is NO edge as ALL the material is IN the wood, not ON it.

Email me off line and I can send you newer photos.

[ricks]

I have not finished all of my brightwork but found time to do my tiller and hatch covers. I rough sanded, cleaned with teak cleaner and brightener (my teak was badly weathered and gray). I applied two coats of teaqua 2 months ago. Application is very simple. I suspect if I did all of my external teak from bow to stern it would not take me more than 2-3 hours. It looked beautiful after application and after two months in the weather it looks to me as good as the day I applied. It is not comparable to varnish, it is a completely different finish, but I like the look. It is a very soft semi gloss. I like the way it feels in my hand - much warmer than a hard finish.

I am extremely happy with the results and will finish my boat with it and continue using. I plan on putting 2 coats on before I cover her for the winter and a coat in the spring. I suspect I will not need to apply again till the fall.


Rick

[mahalocd36]

We plan on doing Mahalo after we get all the Armada stripped
off.

How much do we need to order?
Eventually we'll do: Toe rails, eyebrow, handrails, cockpit, dorade boxes.

[rtbates]

Melissa:

I'd say start with two quarts and go from there. Problem is, once the can is opened the remainder will tend to thicken. I've taken to removing the left over from the can to a jar with a good screw on lid with a seal. It helps.
I also keep a small bottle of Teaqua on Seraph for touch ups using a rag.
You'll find that getting the old finish off is 1000% more time consuming and difficult than applying the oil. What are you using for removal? May I suggest AquaStrip
http://www.ibacktonature.com/Pages/aquastrip-PD.html
You'll need TWO gallons. Yes, it's not cheap, but you'll be ammassed how well it works, provided you allow it to sit and do it's job once applied. For Seraph's many layers of Cetol, it took upwards of 4 hours to fully lift all the layers. A good razor blade scrapper is a big help.

Good luck with your teak

[mahalocd36]

I'd love to try Teaqua but can't order it from their website - their checkout has problems. I've tried 3 times. So I tried to contact
them but found their webpage has no contact information at all except an email address (which they haven't yet responded to).
If it wasn't for you trusted Cape Dorians having such good luck with it I'd be on to something else by now.....I'm pretty leary of companies that won't put any phone # on their webpage.

As for Aquastrip - none of the local places that their webpage says carry it actually do. We did however find another similar stripper (nontoxic, biodegradable, water rinseable, safe for fiberglass) that we tried. It worked *okay*, what it didn't take off it at least softened to make scraping easier. Rich has most of the boat down to the natural teak now. Looks much better already!
Now....if we could only order teaqua......

[RIKanaka]

I bid on a quart of Teaqua last spring on ebay. After winning the auction for several dollars less than the the teaqua.com site price I was able to buy 4 quarts total at the same price (what they called the "drop ship" price) and get the free shipping. I think I paid about $105 for the 4 quarts. Enter "teaqua" on ebay and look at the listing and you'll also see that they are looking for "drop ship reps". Their website also mentions that they are looking for distributors and representatives. So rather than having to pay the retail price or everyone bidding against each other on ebay maybe someone on this board with more sales or negotiation experience can get a CDSOA "drop ship" Teaqua deal for members.

I looked back on my old correspondence with Sam, who I think is the one-man outfit who developed and sells Teaqua, and I couldn't find any phone number to call. I do remember him being very helpful and prompt with his replies, so perhaps the one-man outfit is out of town at the moment.

I never got around to working on the brightwork before launching this summer. I'll be catching up on a lot of overdue maintenance over the winter and spring and hope to have some "before and after" Teaqua pictures to post.

For Aquastrip, try these guys:

http://www.star-distributing.com/nature ... start.html

They're located in Mystic, CT. The price and shipping is reasonable. I almost ordered it from them but ending up driving to and picking it up at Jamestown Distributors instead.

Update - Found the Teaqua phone number on the shipping box and online (aka Coastal Teaqua):

Coastal TeaQua, Moriches, NY 631-874-4574

[ronellis]

I, too, am generally skeptical of websites with no phone numbers. My Teaqua purchase experience, however, was a very good one.

I emailed to find out how quickly my order would ship after it was placed. I got a quick response from Sam with a good answer. I placed my order through the website, and it arrived when promised. The day I applied it, I had some questions. I called the phone number on the can and got Sam on the phone - on a Sunday morning. He was glad to help me.

I'm pleased with how my toe rail and rub rail look with the Teaqua applied. It will take me a few months (at least) to get around to doing the rest of my teak. It's only been on for a few months, and the jury is still out on how long it will look good in the fairly harsh environment of the South Texas Coast.

[mahalocd36]

Ah...Sam did get back to me, so I'm all set with Teaqua now.
Hope to get at least a coat on before we cover her up for the winter.

[Tracuman]

I'm about a month away from some teak work on Calligpygian and was wondering how your Teaqua is holding up. I know it's only been a few months, but I'm still not sure which way to go on this: Cetol or Teaqua. Thanks for the info.

[rtbates]

After 6 months there was some light areas so I applied another coat. 4th total.

The good news, I did every inch of Seraph's teak in 30 minutes! It took very little oil.

[bhartley]

We have applied Teaqua to a high end teak table that sits on our front deck (solid surface). We had used Semco Teak Sealer previously but didn't like the look. So far (2 months), I am very happy with all involved. The water beads up nicely with 2 coats, it went on extremely easily and gives me more of the oiled teak look that the Semco was lacking. It has a much warmer tone to it than plain oil, but not the orangey look that even the Cetol light has.

We're using the table as a guinnea pig outside for the winter before making a decision on what to use on Pyxis. To date, the teak has never had anything other than regular teak oil.

We used Cetol Light on the brand new teak on Miranda. It looks really good from a distance, but it does do a lot to "muddy" the grain of the wood up close. I personally like the way it looks, but my husband is much less happy. We went with Cetol for ease of maintenance and for that we are both happy.

Sam has been very responsive to my emails including my "how do I get rid of it if I hate it"!

Bly