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Teak for Two
9/01/02
Blaine Parks
Welcome to La Trappe Creek. Our quiet anchorage for this
year's teak maintenance. |
Janet uses a paint scraper to do some detail work. |
Blaine works the palm sander along the port side |
Blaine works the starboard side on the following day |
A year of
exposure to the elements had taken its toll on Charbonneau’s exterior
teak. We watched the wood’s
Cetol finish slowly erode while trying to find a good time and place to
repair the damage. We waited
for good weather at the tail end of our Bahamas cruise, but by the time
the perfect weather arrived, temperatures less than 85 degrees and light
winds, it was time to make our crossing back to the US. However, it was still early June and we expected to have a
few cooler days before the summer heat settled in when we arrived back in
North Carolina. Fortunately,
we were given two days of perfect weather; just enough time to refinish
the long handrail, eyebrow, and the cockpit coamings.
Unfortunately, the summer heat arrived before we could get to the
time-consuming task of refinishing the toe rail – the teak that
surrounds the boat and to which all the stanchions and cleats are mounted.
Two more months passed before another opportunity arrived.
What we thought would be a difficult repair turned into a dirty
week-long project.
We love the look of teak on a boat.
We hate the work of maintaining it.
Sikkens’ Cetol Marine finish is a good compromise.
Island Packet Yachts are delivered with a light coat of Sikkens’
Cetol finish. To maintain that finish requires the application of two or
three coats each year. What
makes Cetol easy to work with is that you don’t normally need to sand
down to the bare wood before applying each year’s new coats.
In fact, only a mild scuffing with a green 3M pad is required.
There are several variations of Cetol
Marine. They offer a satin,
satin light, and a gloss coating. We’ve
stayed with the traditional satin finish that has a slight orange pigment
and a soft sheen. While
not as
pretty as varnish, it's much easier to maintain in the harsh conditions
seen by cruising boats. That
is, unless you let it go too long.
The Cetol finish on Charbonneau’s toe
rail was showing signs of peeling before we left the Bahamas in early
June. After being
punished by huge seas during our crossing, the peeling was no longer
imminent, it was happening. We
knew there was going to be some serious sanding involved, but hoped to
limit the sanding to only the forward portions that had started to peel.
The extra two-month wait, mentioned earlier, eliminated any hope of
salvation. Removing the old
finish by sanding and scraping down to the bare wood was the only way to
repair the damage. You
can imagine our joy at that discovery.
We selected a well-protected bight in La
Trappe Creek, near Cambridge, Maryland, to complete the work.
We’ve always sought out quiet anchorages with few distractions
for our teak maintenance. The picturesque backgrounds provide a relaxing backdrop
against the frustrations of varnish work.
It not only helps us focus on the work at hand, it helps keep other
boaters from throwing us out of their marinas during the noisy sanding
period. This year would
prove to be our noisiest ever.
Even the local Blue Heron screeched a loud protest over the din of
our work.
The work itself was dirty and dusty, but
straightforward. Janet
volunteered to use a 2” paint scraper to remove the finish in the spots
where our palm sander couldn’t reach.
I went to work with the palm sander, starting with 60-grit
sandpaper followed by 80 or 120 grit.
It took two full days of scraping and sanding to remove the old
finish, followed each evening by thirty minutes of vacuuming.
Those were two of the longest days in recent memory.
However, the results looked promising.
A close-up look at the teak before and after sanding. You
can see some of the Cetol peeling along the edges. |
Preparations almost complete. Ready for final clean-up,
taping, and mineral spirits. |
Janet applies tape to protect the gel coat from accidental brush
strokes. |
Janet applies the fourth coat. Looking good now! |
It was time to finish our preparations.
We started by taping off the area to prevent any accidental
staining of our gel coat. After
taping, we vacuumed up the remaining dust and used a small whiskbroom to
remove any from hidden crevices. The
final step before applying the first coat was to wipe the wood with
mineral spirits to remove any wax or oils from the wood.
Once the mineral spirits dried we were ready to apply the Cetol
finish.
Actually, Janet was ready.
You see, I’m not allowed to do anything with a paintbrush after
proving how messy I can be during previous projects.
Staying within the lines was never one of my strongest qualities.
Janet is our resident varnish professional.
My role in teak maintenance has been reduced to helping with
the wood’s preparation. However,
I cheered Janet on with encouraging comments as each coat was applied
and ensured that there was always a cold drink available for her.
But otherwise, I just watched.
Charbonneau may only be an Island Packet
40, but she has over ninety feet of toe rail.
Janet inched herself around the boat bent over with her two sponge
brushes, a 1” and a 2”. She
would alternate brushes depending on the spots she was trying to reach.
Once she had circled the boat and finished the top of the toe rail,
we’d climb in the dinghy so she could go around again to reach the lower
section that was unreachable from the boat.
This went on for five days, one coat per day, before Janet was
happy that we had enough coats. Luckily, with the exception of a short-lived sprinkle, the
weather was perfect.
We went through almost twenty sheets of
sandpaper, four sponge brushes, and almost a quart of Cetol Marine satin
finish before the job was over. The
sheets of sandpaper were cut into quarters, meaning that we changed
sandpaper in our palm sander 80 times.
We got by with just one scraper blade, although Janet says having a
replacement blade would have provided a sharper edge towards the end of
the project. Needless to say,
we were exhausted and our bodies ached by the time we finished.
However, the results were wonderful.
In fact, it almost made us consider sanding the rest of the wood
and starting over -- Maybe next year.
Additional
Resource:
Hayden and Radeen Cochran, aboard Island Spirit, are much more talented
than our crew when it comes to wood projects. They have an excellent
photo journal of a similar project that may provide that extra expertise
you're looking for. You can click HERE
to go directly to this information. Hayden also manages the web
pages for the Rock
Hall Fleet of Island Packets and their sites are full of boating
information. Tell him Charbonneau sent you :-)
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