Plastic Classic Forum

OK, I know that this is a "personal choice" decision I have to make myself but, thought I'd ask your collective opinions first.

I've built three teak grids. One for the bowsprit, another for the boomkin and of course, one for the cockpit floor. My dilemma is, whether or not to apply a (Cetol Marine) finish to them or leave them au naturel???

I'm concerned about "weathering" of any finish, particularly in the slots between the staves, and how to refinish them in the future ... mind you, at my age, that problem may well fall to another owner.

Does anyone wish to give an opinion or, make a comment on this subject?

I would love to post a pic of the finished project but, I'm having problems with sizing of the pics. Don't know why, I've posted pics previously without difficulty, I don't understand why this is now a problem.

I suggest that all areas that are designed to be underfoot should remain unfinished (bare) for traction. Never mind that it'll save you a whole lot of work, too.

Well, that was a quick response and to the point. Decision made! Thanks for that Tim, I guess I knew that all along but the Admiral thought it would look "pretty" - I shall compromise a little by coating the 3" wide outside boards where it's unlikely anyone will be placing a foot. It will then match my teak deck on which i've coated both the inner and outer perimeter boards.

Skipper599 wrote:Well, that was a quick response and to the point. Decision made! Thanks for that Tim, I guess I knew that all along but the Admiral thought it would look "pretty" - I shall compromise a little by coating the 3" wide outside boards where it's unlikely anyone will be placing a foot. It will then match my teak deck on which i've coated both the inner and outer perimeter boards.

Photos would be entertaining ;)

I'll post some as soon as I find out how to resize them to accomodate this website. - Bob T.

If keeping a brighter look than grey is important then a deck oil could be used. Keep in mind that is will need to be refreshed a couple times per season. Maybe the suggestion will seem a good compromise to your wife. And if later on you "discover" that it is too much trouble you can just stop doing it.

I have done numerous projects where varnishing was not practical like this and oil appealed to the customer. And it almost every case just 1 or 2 refresh oilings during the sailing season and the greying started to "look" much better

I've seen Semco Teak Sealant recommended on another forum...

Hirilondë wrote:If keeping a brighter look than grey is important then a deck oil could be used. ...

Doesn't the oil turn the teak black when it's used outside?

I told a sailing buddy before he oiled his exterior teak. He went ahead and did it, but sure enough, it turned black after a single season.

Is there a trick I'm missing here?

Duncan wrote:

Hirilondë wrote:If keeping a brighter look than grey is important then a deck oil could be used. ...

Doesn't the oil turn the teak black when it's used outside?

No oil I have used turned teak black. Semco like Mike has suggested works well to delay greying.

Skipper599 wrote:I'll post some as soon as I find out how to resize them to accomodate this website. - Bob T.

I did a write up on how to use Irfanview to do batch resizing on another thread: http://www.plasticclassicforum.com/view ... iew#p40564 - if you're interested.

Hirilondë wrote:No oil I have used turned teak black. Semco like Mike has suggested works well to delay greying.

This got me curious, so I looked it up. Semco is one of those pigmented "treatments", like Cetol, and is available in 5 different shades.

Duncan wrote: Semco is one of those pigmented "treatments", like Cetol, and is available in 5 different shades.

I would not make that comparison, it is an oil, not a surface material like Cetol. And there is a clear that has no pigment, or there was when last I used it. Other teak deck oils include Deks Olje and Watco.

Hirilondë wrote:

Duncan wrote: Semco is one of those pigmented "treatments", like Cetol, and is available in 5 different shades.

I would not make that comparison, it is an oil, not a surface material like Cetol. And there is a clear that has no pigment, or there was when last I used it. Other teak deck oils include Deks Olje and Watco.

Ok, now I get it. When I say "oil" I mean the traditional tung oil or linseed oil, whereas you are referring to proprietary treatments which call themselves "sealants", or "finishes", e.g Semco Teak Sealant, Watco Teak Oil Finish. These are composed mostly of solvents, pigments and other chemicals. The Semco MSDS, for instance, discloses that it is made up of at least 90% mineral spirits, naptha, benzene, etc., and makes no mention of any oil at all.

These products all have their supporters and their detractors, but unlike oils, I agree, they won't turn your exterior teak black.

Duncan wrote:Photos would be entertaining ;)

Ok, I had to call upon my Daughter-in-law to educate me on how to reduce the KB's for posting. So now, I do believe I can post a few pics for the forum.

What these pics show is my progress building three grids. One for the Bowsprit, One for the Cockpit floor and the third one is for the Boomkin.

Ah, very pretty pieces. Now I understand why you are considering a finishing material. I would still not want to varnish at all. This would ruin the non-slip characteristic of teak. If anything I would use a penetrating sealant (calling them an oil is not really accurate considering). Then if you discover it isn't worth the effort over time, or you decide that gray looks good, you can just stop doing it.

Great to see the photos!

I agree --- I wouldn't varnish those pieces for the same reasons as Hirilonde.

Very nice! I wouldn't varnish either. I'd leave them as is. They look terrific.

Those photos were certainly worth waiting for!
I'll also vote for leaving them natural, just so that it's a landslide ;)

Thanks for your comments people, I had fun building them. It surely finishes a boat off with functional "gingerbread" pieces like these.

One operation that made a world of difference in appearances was the way I finished the spacer stock ends. - I'm referring to the 1/2" x 4" pieces between the long strips. - Originally, all those pieces had square ends and I got ot thinking, when I reached the final machine finishing such as rounding over of all sharp edges, I was going to end up with some odd looking corners that would not be very pleasing to the eye. What to do?.

I realised the need for a radius on the ends of every piece to allow the router bearing to traverse the material. - - - This was done using a 4 blade 1/2" flush-trim bit that I happend to have in my tool inventory. I hasten to say it was certainly not the best tool for the job, but it was the only one I had on hand. - - - The problem being when machining end grain, the tool wanted to "chatter" which meant I had to keep a firm control over each and every piece - and there were lots of them. I should also note, using a long bit in this manner is also hard on the router.

By experimenting a little, I found by offsetting the bench guide 1/32" and continually flipping the work piece it worked far better for me - - - so it is not a 100% true radius. - - - of course, I'm sure you all noticed that??? LOL.

In retrospect, I do believe a long 1/2" sanding drum would have performed far better but, as previously said, I did not have one.

Anyway, here's a couple of pics showing the machining op.

I've just learned another thing about posting pics. On previewing, I see the pics have displayed in the reverse order of my original selection. I'll have to try to remember that next time.