Yearly Exterior Teakwood Maintenance
When it comes to teakwood maintenance, we first tried teak oil: It was easy to apply, but did not last or effectively protect the wood.
Second, we tried varnish (Bristol Finish): The teak looked amazing, but it was way too much work.
Eventually, and since 2011, we adopted a solution that works for us: Cetol Marine Natural Teak. It makes yearly maintenance manageable with only 2 to 3 coats and no sanding between coats. It nicely protects the wood and the result looks almost as good as varnish… although it does not have its beautiful glossy finish.
Material
- Sikkens Cetol Marine Natural Teak (1 quart)
- Interlux Special Thinner 216 (cleaning solvent)
- Sponge brushes (quantity per coat: 2x 3’’ large, 2x 2’’ medium, 1x 1’’ small)
- Paint cup (large enough for the 3’’ sponge brush)
- Sand paper: Mostly 220-320 grit (e.g. 3M Pro Grade Precision 220 Grit Fine Ultra Flexible Sanding Roll) including one angle sanding block; A couple of sheets of 100-150 grit to deal with problematic areas; One 3M Scotch Brite brown pad to use between coats
- Tape: Delicate Surface 3M Blue or FROGTAPE Yellow (quantity for 2-3 coats: 2x 1.8’’ large, 1x 1.4’’ medium, 1x 1’’ small)
- Tack cloth (one per coat)
- Paint stick
- Paint can opener
- Cotton rags
- Soft cleaning sponge
- Trash bags
Preparation
Prepare the deck by removing anything in the way, like lifelines, spinnaker pole, anchor, and hardware as needed.
Day 1: Sanding
Duration: 6 hours for all the exterior teak except hatches (add a maximum of 1 hour per hatch)
Use 220-320 grit paper to lightly sand the teak with a goal of only removing the gloss (i.e. without going back to the wood unless there is a local problem). A flexible paper is best for round shapes and could be used with an angle sanding block on flat surfaces; angles help avoid damaging adjacent surfaces.
Day 2: Taping
Duration: 6 hours
Carefully align the tape to the wood while leaving a tiny space between the two in order to allow the Cetol to attach to the surface around the wood.
Day 3: Coat 1
Duration: 3 hours
Remove any dust by cleaning the surfaces adjacent to the wood with a soft cleaning sponge and the wood itself with Interlux Special Thinner 216. Once all is dry, apply one coat of Cetol Marine Natural Teak. A few tips:
- Keep a tack cloth handy to remove any dust as you go.
- Avoid painting the same surface twice while keeping a wet edge to prevent lap marks.
- In Northern California in June, we typical apply the coat between 9:00am (the deck should be dry) and noon (the job should be completed before the wood gets too hot).
- We prefer cheap disposable sponge brushes versus expensive bristle brushes requiring being cleaned with thinners that are damaging to people’s health and the environment. Note, however, that a good quality bristle brush leads to a nicer finish, especially on large surfaces.
Day 4: Coat 2
Duration: 3 hours
Inspect the previous coat and remove any insects or other debris with the 3M Scotch Brite brown pad. Then repeat what was done for coat 1.
Repeat Day 4 if a third coat is needed. Remove the tape right after the last coat.
Let Cetol cure for about one week before returning sailing. In the meantime, work on the deck’s gelcoat, deck’s stainless steel and topsides’ paint and put the deck back together.