What is the best treatment for teak decks?

Question

I have heard that varnish is bad for Teak, and makes it look bad... Help!

Answer 1

Paint provides the longest lasting protection but it hides the wood. If we want the natural beauty of the wood to show, we must apply a clear coating. The choices are oil, sealer, or varnish.

Here is the link to the whole article:

http://www.boatus.com/boattech/casey/29....

More stuff:

http://ezinearticles.com/?Boat-and-Yacht...

http://www.sailingahead.com/boat/teak-ca...

http://properboatcare.com/intecagup.html

http://www.boatersworld.com/product/1761...

http://www.boatbuilding.net/article.pl?s...

http://www.marinestore.com/faq-teak.html...

http://www.boatdocs1.com/Articles_Teak.h...

I think I'll save some of these sites for myself as well.

Best Wishes

.

Answer 2

Max...teak decks are basically a big petrie dish...try to remember that.

It must breath and that's why one can never apply varnish.

If you want golden decks or silver/blonde decks...this is the choice you must make. You can convert from either but there is work involved.

Golden decks require a breatheable coating ...either a program of teak oil or something comparable...lemon oil has some anti-bacterial properties...tung oil is quite thick...these all require regular applications...annual coatings include Cetol M or Deksolje or something comparable recommended for teak.  I have had great results with the Cetol...each fall before layup I give the deck a light scrub with a scotchbrite pad on a mop head then reapply a coat and I'm good for next season.

For silver/blonde decks...natural so-to-speak...with bare teak you simply wash  WET  decks with a 1:3 solution of bleach and water...a 2 gal. garden sprayer works great for this...mornings when the dew is still on is a great time...just let the deck air dry. This kills all the bacteria. An occassional pickling with a salt water solution is good also...make your own. As apposed to what was previously recommended...sea water will introduce bacteria...better than nothing, but hardly ideal.

If they are in good condition, have at it. Otherwise...give them a sand with 150 first...fill poor seams with black polysulfide caulk and resand...reset or replace any loose bungs(with epoxy) and start your chosen program.

Teak decks can be very rewarding. Good luck.

Answer 3

Wow, what a varying amount of opinions here.  I will keep it short.  Yes, you can varnish teak, it required a few extra steps, however.  Oil is also good.  I don't recommend bleach as it will damage the Pith (molecular bonding) of the wood.  If you scrub teak always go with the grain not against it, or you will damage the pith of the wood as well.  I don't recommend paint as it completely negates having beautiful teak decks and as an added problem keeps you from seeing where you might have leaking underneath the deck.  I have been a shipwright in the past and used to keep up teak decks for several of my owners.  Most chose oil, three chose varnish.  All looked good, All required maintainence in the Florida sun.  Feel free to e-mail me if you want the details on how to varnish teak.  I know this answers your questions.

Answer 4

Clean seawater. The salt in the seawater helps the teak to retain moisture and stops it shrinking away from the caulking. If that happens water gets in and underneath and you've got trouble. Teak only looks a honey brown colour when it's new, in the air and sun it always goes that light grey colour. Learn to like that colour and don't mess with it! Just a daily rinse with a few bucket-fulls of clean (not marina) sea water. That's all I use on mine.

Answer 5

we treat our  decks with teak oil, you can buy it at any D.I.Y. shop which would be cheaper thaN a marine shop just brush it on with a paint brush looks fab when you finished x

Answer 6

The best thing you can do for your teak decks is... nothing.

Oils are OK and sealants like varnish, polyurethanes and paint are disasters.  Everyone that I know who has teak decks has learned that the best way to preserve your decks is to keep them clean and unfinished.  The wood will turn sliver/gray and last for years with minimal maintenance.  If you need to bring them back first, it's OK to sand and give them a coat of oil but after that, leave them alone.

Answer 7

Hi,

There is one teak treatment that stands a mile above the rest - of course I can't remember its name but I've used it i several jobs and its available in any good marine store.

It's a two part teak cleaner. The first part is applied, then as I recall removed with a nylon brush, the second is then applied and left on.

All the instructions are on the two bottles anyway.

The bottles are clear with blue writing on them and I'm almost positive they're the only two part cleaners.

If you follow this method I gaurantee your teak will come out looking absolutely brand new. I've used it to remove oil stains as well as just to be rid of the sun bleached look.

Hope that helps

Peter

Answer 8

Never varnish a teak deck. Teak decks require a lot of TLC. Use tung oil if your deck is in that bad of a shape.

Answer 9

Here's my two cents, based on thirty years of building boats and laying a lot of teak decks in the Caribbean...

teak is used for decks because it has a high resistance to rot ( my boat in the picture has 65 year old teak decks) and has a natural non-skid texture.

Varnishing a deck turns non-skid into an ice rink and to me is nuts.

Teak oils will work and keep it a nice honey color, depending on how far north you are and how much sun......

If the decks have been there a while and are "dimensionally stable" ie they wont shrink.....I'd let them naturally weather that nice "sea-going" grey that teak wants to be.

Keep up with the caulking.Teak Deck Systems makes a wonderful caulking available from good boat supply stores.