Teak, Bronze, and Anti-Skid


Rub Rails



Sand, sand & sand some more.  This has been the summer of sandpaper for me.  The teak on this boat was in rough shape to say the least.  It had gone gray and the previous owner coated it with Watco teak oil obviously an attempt to pretty up the boat before selling.  So I stripped the teak with teak cleaner.  Then began sanding.  When I started this stuff was rough especially the rub rails.  I could easily see getting splinters in your foot as I walked around the deck or sat in the cockpit.   It took me a long time and a lot of deliberating on what to coat the teak with once I'd finished.  I was going to use Sikkens.   I've used Sikkens before however have not been overly thrilled with the products durability or mustardy color.  Yet all the web forums still say it is the best stuff out there.   While standing in the aisle at Wolfs  holding the can in my hand and looking around rather sad about the color choices one of Wolf's people came up and asked if I needed help.  They actually recommended Epifanes for teak. According the him it will hold up longer than Sikkens and when it is time to re-coat it is much easier to work with than Sikkens.  Sikkens cracks up and is hard to remove when it breaks down. It was, in the end, an easy choice to go with the Epifanes.  Epifanes is a one part product unlike Sikkens which requires a color coat before the gloss coat.  Epifanes doesn't discolor the wood with a pre-stain and I've been very pleased with the results. Maintenance looks like it is going to be easy.  Let's hope word of mouth proves to be far more effective than rumor of the forum.
Cockpit Combing
Cockpit Trim





Toe Rails
Toe Rails





Shinned up  & clear coated.
Bronze:
I know you are supposed to let it go green.  But it was all in such rough shape and I've come this far on the clean up I'd may as well push over the edge into the realm of insanity.  The bronze castings on this boat are just excellent.  It took a while to get all of the bronze clean.  I tried everything,  brass cleaners, wipes, Ketchup.  Plain white vinegar ended up being the best chemical cleaner but, nothing beat some fine sand paper, a wire wheel and the dremel tool.  I rubbed and cleaned and scrubbed these down. Then finally sprayed them with special lacquer designed for out door use by Permalac.

Lots of small pieces.




















Anti-Skid



The deck anti-skid was in need of a good re-coat as well.  I've done this before on the old boat.  See this link.  It is a pretty straight forward process.  You scuff up the deck with some light sanding. Then I used Interlux Brightsides  light blue with their anti-skid additive. The first coat I did with a fine foam roller.  This provided a good even color coat. The second coat was done with a short nap roller providing a bit more texture to the deck and building up the anti-skid for the next time I want to skin my knees.  The finished product is hard to argue with.  It's a good clean surface that your deck shoes stick to.  

Before

After







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