Teak Work

Teak Work 2008 & 2009

(Last update: 2 Jan 2009)

(The Teak was done during the same time period as the Deck and the Hull)

I started the process of sanding Mikhaya prior to my haul out on Thanksgiving week 2008. I'm using the same process as the last time. Below is a picture the stripping disk I used. It strips all the old varnish off very nicely and is gently with the teak.

I know what you're thinking...."He's sanding away his teak!" Well true to some slight degree but I have a lot of teak left and this goes really fast and if you do it correctly you only strip the varnish off. I really only take off the old Cetol (see below). After the ruff sanding I will go over it all with 120 & 220 sandpaper before the varnish. The flexibility of the sanding disk really helps to get on the side angles of the toe-rail and hand rails.

Hand sanding will take care of the close work

Condition Before ruff sanding

Condition after sanding

Will be removing the Winch later to get the area around the base

A switch from Cetol to EplFanes

Ladder all sanded and polished. Ready for EplFanes High Gloss

First ruff sanding. Still have to remove the Winch and finish up around it

Making progress on the toe-rail.

Sandy is not amused that we are spending so much time working on the boat and going any where.

The anchor mount was in bad shape

Progress is good

For those tight areas

Finished product and ready for fine sanding

For those really tight areas

(4-1/2 days to complete the teak sanding)

Ruff sanding complete and ready for a wash down

Removed the winches to get to the edge teak

Got to love that Dremel® tool

Teak sanding completed and ready for the first coat of EplFanes. Need to do a mineral sprits whip down first.

I wiped down the hull with 333 and while waiting for it to dry I wiped down the teak.

First coat goes on.

Anchor platform with 1^st coat

After completing the bow and top deck painting, the teak hand rails came next. First coat goes on. It took 45 minutes to tape around the hand rails and 15 min to stain them. I'm going to push this tape to 10 days in order to get three coats on the hand rails before pulling it off. Not sure how that will do in the 75° December Florida sun.

Taping and doing the toe rails

First coat on the toe rails and second coat on the anchor platform

The teak work is finished! Three coats of varnish, tape is off and the the last coat is drying

After a week the tape is slow to come off

Hatch boards

Oups!

Only place the tape pulled off the hull paint

-Touch-up-

Oups!

I didn't take enough time or pay enough attention to my sanding

-Touch-up-

Oups!

Carelessness

-Touch-up-

Oups!

Tape (green) pulled off the beige non-slip paint

-Touch-up-

Previous Teak Rework

2003

A good sanding (8hrs) and three coats of Cetol^© Satin Light with two coats of Cetol^© Marine GLOSS (10 hrs) gave my 1979 teak a face lift.

Mikhaya's 1979 teak was a real collection of previous sand downs and numerous varnishing efforts. The daily year round baking in the Florida sun didn't help any.


Approach #1 Stripping and Sanding the Teak This really didn't work to well for me. The soft/hard areas on the worn teak did not lend a level surface to scrape. The process seemed too long and it was labor intensive. The stripper worked very well and did not damage the gelcoat, as advertised on the container. I applied the stripper, scraped it off and used water and a course scouring pad to clean up.


Approach #2 Sanding the Teak Found this great sanding wheel for the drill made by 3M, that allowed me to lightly sand off the top layer of the teak without "Sanding my teak away," as they say. It was flexible and held up good when sanding around the cleats and fittings. I had to buy 5 of these to finish all the teak on a P35. For the hard to get at areas I used my Dremel^© tool with the grinders bit attached.


What worked the best for me... 1) I sanded all the teak using Approach #2. Had to get creative with hand sanding for some of the hard to reach areas. 2) I dusted off the sanded areas with a brush and wiped down the "new teak," with a tack cloth. Next I gave it a good cleaning with Acetone to get rid of any oil on the surface of the wood. 3) I used a good quality brush and applied the 1^st coat of Cetol^©Satin Light. Allow to dry for at least 24 hrs. I worked from stern to bow by pouring just enough Cetol^©Satin Light in a paper cup. 4) After 24 hrs with no sanding, I applied the 2^st coat of Cetol^©Satin Light. Allow to dry for at least 24 hrs. 5) After at least 24 hrs with no sanding, I applied the 3^rd and last coat of Cetol^©Satin Light. Allow to dry for at least 24 hrs. 6) I applied the 4^th coat using Cetol^© Marine Gloss. 7) The 5^th coat (the last one) was completed using Cetol^© Marine Gloss.



			First Applied Coat of Cetol^© Satin Light

			Second Applied Coat of Cetol^© Satin Light

			Third Applied Coat of Cetol^© Satin Light
Notes: I choose not to use any tape on the edges of the gelcoat and teak. Last time I did it acuminated under the tape edges due to the non skid decking surface. I just used a good brush and wiped the excess with the edge of a cloth. As it turned out the tape would have been on for three weeks. It would have be a mess getting off by then. It took exactly one qt of Cetol Satin Light to do all three coats of teak. I used about 1/2 qt of Cetol Marine Gloss. I did not do the main hatch boards nor the hand rails on the top deck. Five coats were applied over a period of 18 days. I didn't remove any hardware. Around the cleats it might have looked better but I just re-bedded my cockpit cleats and didn't want to break them loose again. Once I learned how to hold the brush correctly I managing to draw a straight line. When finished, I dipped the brush in turpentine, wrapped it up each afternoon in paper towels, sealed it in a plastic bag and put it in the refrigerator on the boat. This worked fine for three coats. I did clean it good before doing the Cetol^©Satin Marine Gloss coat. The hardest part was the sanding. The first coat of Cetol was also tuff. Doing the teak in the evening after hours turned out to be a real neat time of day for me. I got into a two hour routine of going down to the boat, listing to some good uplifting music, watching the sun set while the dolphins played off the stern and finished off yet another coat coat of Cetol.
Fourth Coat			Cetol^© Marine GLOSS!

Fifth Coat			Cetol^© Marine GLOSS!

Top