Need recommendation for cleaning blackened teak

[wikakaru]

I have some black stains on the toe rail of my Typhoon that are proving unresponsive to any attempt to clean them:

20230610_081607.jpg (197.34 KiB) Viewed 857 times

This photo was taken after stripping the old varnish off and applying multiple rounds of West Marine One Step Teak Cleaner and Brightener. The cleaner/brightner is having no effect. I can't sand this area any more because it is where the genoa track bolts through the toe rail and the bolts are already coming through the teak (which is probably the source of the discoloration). If you look carefully at the right stain you can just see a lighter color spot at the bottom middle of the stain which is actually the track through-bolt.

I know that the proper solution is to remove the toe rails and replace them with slightly thicker toe rails with properly aligned bolts for the genoa track, but that is way too much work. I was hoping for a more powerful teak cleaner that will bleach the black stains out.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

--Jim

[robwm]

Have you tried applying Hydrogen Peroxide with a small brush. I've had luck using this. Apply it lightly on a small area first. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes then rinse with plain water.

Robert

[wikakaru]

It turns out the black stains that remained after cleaning and brightening were just water saturation in the wood. After a day of drying they were gone, with no additional bleaching needed. I'm sure the black stains will re-appear as water soaks back in around the toe rail through-bolts.

20230613_094739A.jpg (519.38 KiB) Viewed 823 times

Instead of varnishing, I'm considering painting the toe rails with dado brown paint and changing the boot stripe from red to dado brown to match. I love the look of varnish when it is in good shape, but can't abide it when it is bad. Unfortunately, any re-varnishing will be doomed to failure. While the paint won't fix the problem, it will hide it for longer--until the paint bubbles rather than until the water soaks in. I'm just wondering if I will hate a painted toe rail, and if I will regret changing the boot stripe color. I rather like the red, but there are some chips out of it and it needs to be repainted anyway.

I plan to keep the rest of the boat's teak varnished, at least for now.

Thoughts?

--Jim