I just finished removing "Cetol" from all my teak and replacing it with teak oil. It looks wonderful and I suspect very much like the original factory finish. IMHO, Cetol is about the worst finish one could apply to any wood. It might last forever, but forever is a long time for ugly. Instead of gray teak you get yellow teak and in the case of my boat, the one applying the Cetol gave me alot of yellow fiberglass. For many years I had a boat that stayed in a slip or on a mooring all summer and a hard finish made sense, but my current boat is dry sailed and covered when not used and my thinking is that a hard finish makes less sense. Also, eventually hard finishes have to be stripped when they are recoated many times and that is a major job. My hatch boards need to be replaced because the teak veneer has delaminated (which meant the Cetol came off easily). I am thinking of using some nice white oak that I already have, but I'm not sure about the difference in color. When oxidized and gray they (teak and white oak) look very much alike, but when cleaned up and oiled the oak is lighter and without any redness. Has anyone used oak with teak and have suggestions for me? Rick Langer M15 #337 Hudson River
Date: Sat, 26 Jun 2004 09:08:17 -0400 From: "William B. Riker" <wriker@mindspring.com> Subject: RE: M_Boats: REply to Larry re: finishing the hatch boards To: <seawitchlj@yahoo.com>, "'For and about Montgomery Sailboats'" <montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com> Message-ID: <E1BeCuk-0007QQ-00@smtp6.mindspring.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Just another viewpoint here. Teak is used on boats because of its oily and rot-resistant characteristics. And it looks nice, both oiled and finished bright. There is cost to using teak; both monetary and environmental. It strikes me that if you are going keep the wood sealed with a hard finish, you don't need teak! You can use any wood, and there are many that are more attractive, environmentally friendly and less costly than teak.
Also, teak has a very uneven raised grain. Sanding it smooth enough for a hard finish would remove material and weaken it structurally. The forward rail, starboard side, on my boat is particularly deeply grooved and would be very difficult to sand smooth.
I spend less than an hour per year cleaning and oiling the teak on my M15, primarily for preservation, secondarily for appearance. Over the years that may add up to more time that I would spend masking, sanding and painting a hard finish. But I doubt it. I have too little time available for both sailing and working on the boat and sailing takes precedence. And I like using teak's natural properties for their intended purpose.
Bill Riker M15 - #184 Storm Petrel