Repair and Maintenance of a Drascombe Lugger

Coating Teak

This page briefly reviews the various methods used for treating/coating teak and then describes how one of these is being used in the renovation of Sospiri's teak components. There are a number of different ways of treating teak, each of which have advantages and disadvantages. I have made no attempt to suggest that any method is better than another (to be honest the Lugger is the first boat I have owned with teak components). I have described a method which seems to work for the teak on my Lugger and time will tell how successful this is!!

So please do not take the method I have adopted as the definitive answer to teak treatment, it is merely one of many possibilities.

Why is teak 'different'?

Teak is an exceedingly strong and durable hardwood ideally suited to boatbuilding purposes. Top quality teak is grown in Burma and this is the preferred source from the point of view of boat building. Teak contains natural oils which help to make it waterproof and exceptionally resistant to rot. However, the downside to this is that the oily nature of the timber means that conventional coatings and varnishes will not adhere well to new or newly sanded teak and may degrade and peel off within months.

What are the treatment options?

The main treatment options can be summarised as follow:

No treatment at all. In time untreated teak will weather to a silver-grey colour. This weathering is superficial and beneath the weathered exterior the wood will remain sound over a very long period of time. Some boat owners are perfectly content with the colour that this no-maintenance option produces. However, in the longer term the wood can start to split.
Remove the thin layer of weathered wood by sanding and/or by using a teak brightener/restorer which chemically removes the grey weathered surface to expose the underlying unweathered wood. To maintain the unweathered look the wood must be treated/protected as per one of the following methods.
Coat new or sanded/treated teak with teak oil on a regular basis. Teak oil 'feeds' the wood and maintains it in good condition. Applied regularly it maintains the beautiful golden brown of the wood. However, it needs to be applied several times a season to maintain an attractive finish.
Treat new or sanded wood with a degreasing agent such as White Spirit or Turpentine Substitute to remove surface oil and then coat with a water-based woodsealer such as Burgess Marine Woodsealer. This will need to be applied at least once a year.
Use a coating specially formulated for teak. The one most commonly recommended is Deks Olje (pronounced 'Decks Olya'). This gives a superb and very durable coating on new or freshly sanded/treated wood. However the initial application is quite complex requiring multiple coats. Each subsequent coat must be applied before the previous coat has dried extending over as much as a six hour period. Minimal applications are applied in subsequent seasons.

So what treatment was used with Sospiri's teak?

After much consultation and some useful discussion on the Drascombe mailing list, I opted for one of the simplest treatments. There is a lot of teak on a Lugger so keeping the treatment as simple as possible was a high priority. My personal preference is to retain the beautiful golden-brown appearance of unweathered teak rather than the untreated grey look.

So the treatment I opted for involved gentle sanding to remove the weathered patina followed by degreasing and then coating using Burgess Marine Woodsealer. The detailed treatment is described as follows:

The Teak Mast Thwart before treatment

The teak mast thwart has been unbolted from the boat. The wood has not been treated and over many years the teak has weathered to a characteristic silver-grey colour.

(Click on image for larger view)

Photo of teak mast thwart in course of treatment

The Teak Mast Thwart undergoing treatment

I decided not to use teak brightener/restorer to remove the grey weathered surface of the teak. Instead I used a rubber sanding block with 120 grade Aluminium oxide paper. On no account use a power sander which is much too vicious. Dry sanding was gentle and just enough to cut through the very thin weathered patina to expose the beautiful natural golden brown colour of the teak.

The photograph shows the thwart after wiping with a sponge soaked in White Spirit. Newly sanded wood is shown on the left whilst the right hand side still has a weathered patina showing up black.

(Click on image for larger view)

Photo of teak mast thwart sanding completed

The Teak Mast Thwart sanding completed

This photograph shows the sanding completed. The whole surface was wiped with White Spirit. This is important as it degreases the surface in preparation for the application of the Burgess Marine Woodsealer

(Click on image for larger view)

	The Teak Mast Thwart coating completed This photograph shows the coating completed. After wiping the surfaces with White Spirit the wood was left until the White Spirit had completely evaporated. Some Burgess Marine Woodsealer was then poured into a plastic drinking cup and applied using a paint brush. Several coats can be applied either as the previous coat is drying or else after the previous coat has dried which takes about 20 minutes. After the treatment had been applied the brush was washed in plain water. (Click on image for larger view)
	The Teak Mizzen Mast Thwart before treatment This photograph shows the Mizzen mast thwart before treatment. Like all the other teak on the boat it had not been treated for some years and the wood was very weathered. It was unbolted from the boat and the condition of both sides checked. Green mould had developed in some areas of the wood although this cannot be seen in the photograph! (Click on image for larger view)
	The Teak Mizzen Mast Thwart after treatment This photograph shows the Mizzen mast thwart after gentle sanding, degreasing with White Spirit followed by coating with the Burgess Marine Woodsealer. The wood was in surprisingly sound condition in spite of a long period of neglect. (Click on image for larger view)
	The Laminated Teak Transom Board before treatment The transom board was in a poor state with green lichen growing in places and also some minor splitting and missing chips!. (Click on image for larger view)
	The Laminated Teak Transom Board after treatment As with the other teak components the board was dry sanded on both sides and splits degreased with Acetone, coated with unthickened Epoxy and then filled with thickened Epoxy. Teak splints were cut to shape, degreased with Acetone and glued in with Epoxy to replace missing splinters. The board was then coated on both sides with Burgess Marine Woodsealer. (Click on image for larger view)
	Fettled teak ready for re-attachment to the boat! All the teak components, except the gunwales, were removed for inspection, conservation where necessary, sanding and coating with Burgess Marine Wood Sealer. Here they are all fettled and ready for re-attachment to the boat. (Click on image for larger view)

Project started March 2002 and completed June 2002