Railing wood, exterior woodwork question

guglielmo6160 · Post by **guglielmo6160** » Thu Mar 26, 2009 8:57 am

I plan on cleanning and oiling my outside woodwork on the railings, swim platform etc,
just curious what you guys do, I bought this boat last season and have not cleaned antyhing outside,
I planned on pressure washing it, but I dont want splintering, so have any of you done that and what products have you used that work well to bring out the natural lustre and lasts the longest
any info would help
thanks in advance

Stripermann2 · Post by **Stripermann2** » Thu Mar 26, 2009 9:15 am

Any good teak cleaner will work with a brush. You want to first scrub all the black and gray out of the wood and rinse well. After drying, I apply Cetol with a brush. A couple of coats will make it look good.

jddens · Post by **jddens** » Thu Mar 26, 2009 11:11 am

I clean my teak with a paste made using powered tide w/bleach and water. Rinse and let dry then I use Watco teak oil.......I do this about twice a year................looks great and the oil doesn't build up you no sanding required........John

prowlersfish · Post by **prowlersfish** » Thu Mar 26, 2009 1:04 pm

I clean it with 409 or simple green ( or like product ) I have had to use a pressuer washer if its bad .and I use teak oil . A lot of folks use Cetol as it lasts longer . the oil you have to do all the time but I like the look of oil over Cetol .

Coralkong · Post by **Coralkong** » Thu Mar 26, 2009 2:21 pm

Love the look of fresh oil, but the constant need just got to be too much.

Went the Cetol route.

Initial application was a bear, but it is super-easy to maintain with only 1 maintenance coat per year.

wowzer52 · Post by **wowzer52** » Thu Mar 26, 2009 2:52 pm

I used three coats of Cetol on my swim board after taking it off and running it through a drum sander and spar varnish on my railing last fall and the cetol already looks bad and the spar varnish looks great, of coarse my railings are more protected. I also like the warm look of the spar varnish. I was told that cetol didn't need attention for several years but after reading the can it said to touch it up every year. No different than the spar varnish.Hmmmm...

jordan · Post by **jordan** » Thu Mar 26, 2009 3:55 pm

I removed all the teak, brought it home and sanded all of it. Applied 10 coats of Ephanes high gloss, reinstalled and have not touched it for 3 years. Still looks good.

jimbo36 · Post by **jimbo36** » Thu Mar 26, 2009 4:16 pm

If you go the Cetol route,as I have done successfully for years, here is my technique.

1. Strip teak with a furniture stripper. I use Super Stripa. Be careful not to gouge the wood with your scraper.
2. Use a 2 part teak cleaner. Brush in the #1 and rinse the black residue completely with water. Then apply the #2 and watch the magic. Rinse well with water.
3. Dry well,(overnight) then sand with 100 grit paper. Note; save the sawdust in a clean container.
4. If you need to bleach any dark waterstains now would be the time. Using the sawdust you collected mix up a batch of epoxy, sawdust and micro ballons to fill any dents or dings, then sand to fair out the repair. (always use a sanding block)
5. Sand well with 220 and wipe down with Acitone (use gloves) Teak is an oily wood, which is why it resists rot. You need to remove the surface oil so that your coating will penitrate into the wood. This is the common mistake made by those who say, "I tryed Cetol but it didn't last"
6. Apply the first of 6 coats of regular cetol, light sanding with 220 between the first 3 coats.
7. If you like the satin look, apply 2 more coats of regular Cetol. Or 2 coats of Cetol Gloss. (the last 2 coats are sacrifical over the season)
8. Each season light sand with 220 and apply 1-2 coats of Cetol Gloss (or reguler Cetol)

This works for me. I am continually complimented on my Brightwork and it always looks great. In fact, the more that goes on, the better it looks.

Good luck.

LandVF36 · Post by **LandVF36** » Thu Mar 26, 2009 11:56 pm

What are all of you using for a filler? The teak around our cockpit is in pretty good shape, but there are a few places where things have been mounting and removed over the years. I can't seem to find a filler that matches the teak, I was wondering what everyone uses.

gjrylands · Post by **gjrylands** » Fri Mar 27, 2009 4:40 am

A good solution to fill old screw holes in teak or an wood is to drill it out and insert a plug. You can get plug cutters in different sizes and cut the plug from the same type of wood you are repairing. Drill out the old hole with a Foster bit. (It has a very short point and won't damage gelcoat below to wood if you don't drill through.) Glue the plug in and line up the grain in the repair piece and the plug. After the glue dries sand the plug to the level the surface. (A sharp chisel can cut off the plug before sanding.) The plug is wood, so it will except stain and varnish. It's not an invisible repair, but it's not an ugly spot either.

If you need to repair a larger area, such as a gouge, use a router to cut out the damaged area. Cut a plug to fill the cut and glue it in. If you cut the plug from a piece with similar grain you can come very close to matching the grain in the repair.

duchess · Post by **duchess** » Fri Mar 27, 2009 7:09 am

I wash mine down with amonia and water. Use sudsey ammonia if you can find it othwise use a little dawn with it and a semi soft brush. Try to brush across the grain or you will gouge out the soft grain. The ammonia kills the mold spores. Let dry really good . Sand with 100 wt paper. Rinse again . Wipe with acetone litly Let dry. I use interlux teak oil . Cetol is too orange for my taste. Swim platform be careful here if your going to use it for swimming I wouldnt use anything that that is slick as your feet will slip and you ll take a fall . On my platforms i only used deks ole or interlux . Decks I know your boat. wet them down and use soft scrub and clorox brush litely with a soft brush or old turkish towel . they will come up clean and bright. The soft scrub and clorox will get into the non skid and kill the mold spores and get them out of the nonskid. rinse really well. Before doing this wet down the hull side with water . I do this every year before waxing the hull sides. Take a really good look at your flybridge side If you see sliight speckles on the glass you have mold spores . you have to kill it by washing it down by hand using a slight mixture of clorox and water with a turkish towl. then rinse and wash with boat soap. let dry and wax. That boat hasnt been waxed in at least 3 years basicly was covered every year and then washed and launched. Laid in the slip and was only used once a year back to the lift. Have you gotten rid of the smell in the cabin?

guglielmo6160 · Post by **guglielmo6160** » Fri Mar 27, 2009 7:52 am

duch

yes I finally got rid of that foul smell, Im not sure what it was, maybe mold, who knows,,
thanks for all the good advice, still not sure about the pressue washing but Ill try by hand fisrt

seems there are alot of good ways to clean up the wood,
mine looks a little weather beaten, but I want to try to make it look better

guglielmo6160 · Post by **guglielmo6160** » Fri Mar 27, 2009 7:55 am

Duchess

how do you know my boat,,?

duchess · Post by **duchess** » Fri Mar 27, 2009 8:09 am

We spoke on the phone when you brought her up north. Your boat was in the same yard that mine was before we bought a home down here. I knew the owner as it was laid up next to mine for sevweal years and we were both in the same marina during the summers.

jimbo36 · Post by **jimbo36** » Fri Mar 27, 2009 9:35 am

Duchess, I hear you on the orange tone of Cetol. I have noticed the more that is applyed the less orange it looks. Also, Cetol now has a teak color for those who don't like the orange shade.

Railing wood, exterior woodwork question

Railing wood, exterior woodwork question

teak

duchess