To Sand the Teak or Not to Not Sand the Teak...

[martinarcher]

Looking good! Keep that teak oil handy.

Edited March 13, 2011 by martinarcher

[tpollon2]

Finish the swim platform with Tung oil not Teak oil. Apply it with Cheese Cloth.

[Steve B.]

Do you have any pics of a Tung oil deck by chance tpollon2? Think I'm going to put the finish on this weekend.

Steve B.

[Jeffw5555]

I used to just lightly sand my teak every year, and use teak and/or tung oil. Got really tired of doing this every year. A couple of years ago, i was finishing out a section of my house and for the hardware floor I used a product called Basic Streetshoe for the finish. (It's what they use for commercial basketball courts) Needless to say I was so amazed with it I decided to try it out on the teak deck. If you use this, you will never use either oils or poly finishes again! It is water-based, and cures so fast that three coats is done in a couple of hours, and a couple hours later it is hardened. It is absolutely indestructible. I put three coats on, and on the last coat I lightly tossed marble dust in it. You cannot tell the dust is there, but it doesn't slip when wet, and doesn't abrade you when you pull yourself out of the water. After two seasons it still looks new. The boat is at my lake house 200 miles away; I will put pictures up next time I am down there.

Edited March 18, 2011 by Jeffw5555

[mp3mike05]

This thread inspired me to refinish the swim platform on my 1990 Skier, it has been in VERY rough shape since I bought it. I bought TE KA cleaner and Starbrite Teak Oil / Sealer as suggested by Martinarcher.

As it sat originally...

After sanding with 100 grit...

After cleaning with TE KA

After two coats of the Starbrite Tropical Oil

[WakingMeHappy]

This thread inspired me to refinish the swim platform on my 1990 Skier, it has been in VERY rough shape since I bought it. I bought TE KA cleaner and Starbrite Teak Oil / Sealer as suggested by Martinarcher.

You can't beat teak when it's look'in good.

[martinarcher]

This thread inspired me to refinish the swim platform on my 1990 Skier, it has been in VERY rough shape since I bought it. I bought TE KA cleaner and Starbrite Teak Oil / Sealer as suggested by Martinarcher.

Looking good! You'll like the way the startbrite sealer keeps the teak looking good. It certainly lasts longer than teak oil!

[REW]

You can't beat teak when it's look'in good.

[liljohn]

You old teakies Kill me.. This thread got me so pumped about all the beautiful wood and the fact that I am a hack carpenter inspired this. The deck you see started as an abused deck from an Manuel wedge boat had the little open door to drop the wedge. It was white when I got her and she was the same size as my current fiberglass deck. So I picked her up on a Friday went straight home and ripped it apart (who ever builds these to begin with does not do a very good job) . Then out came the planners, sanders, jig saws, routers, Clamps, Glues, and teak oil. I was so excited that I totally spaced the before pic.Here is a weekend of carpentry and a weeks worth of teak oil coats. She has 5 coats in these pictures and is ready to be reinstalled! I made it smaller to help with the surf wave. Maybe? Or at least that was my justification to the better half. Thanks crew. For making me curse ,scream, bleed and revisit my skills. It was worth it all.

Edited March 27, 2011 by liljohn

[REW]

You old teakies Kill me.. This thread got me so pumped about all the beautiful wood and the fact that I am a hack carpenter inspired this. The deck you see started as an abused deck from an Manuel wedge boat had the little open door to drop the wedge. It was white when I got her and she was the same size as my current fiberglass deck. So I picked her up on a Friday went straight home and ripped it apart (who ever builds these to begin with does not do a very good job) . Then out came the planners, sanders, jig saws, routers, Clamps, Glues, and teak oil. I was so excited that I totally spaced the before pic.Here is a weekend of carpentry and a weeks worth of teak oil coats. She has 5 coats in these pictures and is ready to be reinstalled! I made it smaller to help with the surf wave. Maybe? Or at least that was my justification to the better half. Thanks crew. For making me curse ,scream, bleed and revisit my skills. It was worth it all.

Looks great Glad to see another Teakie on the boad.

[martinarcher]

You old teakies Kill me.. This thread got me so pumped about all the beautiful wood and the fact that I am a hack carpenter inspired this. The deck you see started as an abused deck from an Manuel wedge boat had the little open door to drop the wedge. It was white when I got her and she was the same size as my current fiberglass deck. So I picked her up on a Friday went straight home and ripped it apart (who ever builds these to begin with does not do a very good job) . Then out came the planners, sanders, jig saws, routers, Clamps, Glues, and teak oil. I was so excited that I totally spaced the before pic.Here is a weekend of carpentry and a weeks worth of teak oil coats. She has 5 coats in these pictures and is ready to be reinstalled! I made it smaller to help with the surf wave. Maybe? Or at least that was my justification to the better half. Thanks crew. For making me curse ,scream, bleed and revisit my skills. It was worth it all.

Sweet! It looks fantastic! Nice work!

[Steve B.]

It does look great. I've gone thru a lot of the same process. Took most of it apart. Sand, sand, sand. Oiled some of the bottom pieces for a test, with Watco from Bestbuy.

The bottom pieces came out really dark, even after only one oiling. I haven't even tried to oil the top, out of fear of it being too dark. Granted, the bottom pieces didn't look the greatest even after the sanding. The top looks very bright, un-oiled.

Any ideas?

Steve B.

[REW]

It does look great. I've gone thru a lot of the same process. Took most of it apart. Sand, sand, sand. Oiled some of the bottom pieces for a test, with Watco from Bestbuy.

The bottom pieces came out really dark, even after only one oiling. I haven't even tried to oil the top, out of fear of it being too dark. Granted, the bottom pieces didn't look the greatest even after the sanding. The top looks very bright, un-oiled.

Any ideas?

Steve B.

You can get a real good idea of what the oiled color will be by wetting the platform. (you will need to let it dry for about 24 hours after) Mine does get a little darker with the oil than dry.

[Levi900RR]

I havent seen mine in a while so I cant remember... when you guys are disassembling these are they screwed together? How tough is it to get the thing back together and looking good???

I need to give mine a real good overhaul then I'm hoping a good clean and seal once a year will keep it looking sweet.

[Steve B.]

Yes, they are screwed together. The screws are stainless ! I think they use a machine to put them in, becuase as you back them out, be prepared for a lilttle wood to pop up as you do it.

The previous owner had oiled the teak a number of times, so the screw heads needed a lilttle cleaning out before I could get a screwdriver to get a good bite. I used an exacto tool to do that.

It ends up being a lot of work, but at that point you can get ever inch of all the wood sanded nicely.

Steve B.

[Levi900RR]

Were you able to use the same screws to re-assemble? or did you get new hardware? and if you got new hardware did you have to get a little bigger screws cause the teak was stripped?

Edited April 1, 2011 by Levi900RR

[WakingMeHappy]

I havent seen mine in a while so I cant remember... when you guys are disassembling these are they screwed together? How tough is it to get the thing back together and looking good???

I need to give mine a real good overhaul then I'm hoping a good clean and seal once a year will keep it looking sweet.

You do not have to take it apart at all. Just sand it down with an electric sander. To get in small grooves where the wood pieces touches each other fold the sandpaper in half and sand it by hand. Taking it apart just to sand it is a lot of extra work.

[martinarcher]

You do not have to take it apart at all. Just sand it down with an electric sander. To get in small grooves where the wood pieces touches each other fold the sandpaper in half and sand it by hand. Taking it apart just to sand it is a lot of extra work.

I didn't disassemble mine, but just took my time with sandpaper in the cracks and joints. I figured no one will ever see the wood where the boards meet anyway so I wasn't going to refinish it! Just be sure to use an electric sander on the flat parts - it speeds things up big time.

What you can see looks awesome.

[liljohn]

ill second what they said. I only took mine apart to change the shape and dimensions. Not a task I would take just to finish it.

[luvtheBU]

Sweet! It looks fantastic! Nice work!

Gorgeous deck, looks amazing, I can only imagine how it used to look. Great job.

[Slayer]

WOW. You guys have some seriously nice teak! I just bought my first BU this past weekend and it appears as though the previous owner used a varnish on the platform! Having grown up with boats loaded with teak I was surprised to see that. In any event, I'm going to refinish it since I don't yet have a lift for the boat. My plan was to sand off the varnish but my brother suggested that I use a paint stripper. The varnish is starting to peel in a few spots and I thought sanding would do the trick. Your thoughts??

[WakingMeHappy]

WOW. You guys have some seriously nice teak! I just bought my first BU this past weekend and it appears as though the previous owner used a varnish on the platform! Having grown up with boats loaded with teak I was surprised to see that. In any event, I'm going to refinish it since I don't yet have a lift for the boat. My plan was to sand off the varnish but my brother suggested that I use a paint stripper. The varnish is starting to peel in a few spots and I thought sanding would do the trick. Your thoughts??

The previous owner of my Bu also varnished the teak and it was pealing when I bought it. It was one of the ugliest things I ever saw. The first time I sanded it down I didn’t think I would ever get down to the real wood. Once I finished it though it was worth all the work. Good luck on yours but don’t use paint stripper. Use an electric sander and go to town on it. Even if you use paint stripper you’re still going to sand a lot. Post a before and after pics when you're done.

[martinarcher]

WOW. You guys have some seriously nice teak! I just bought my first BU this past weekend and it appears as though the previous owner used a varnish on the platform! Having grown up with boats loaded with teak I was surprised to see that. In any event, I'm going to refinish it since I don't yet have a lift for the boat. My plan was to sand off the varnish but my brother suggested that I use a paint stripper. The varnish is starting to peel in a few spots and I thought sanding would do the trick. Your thoughts??

Good man. Get that varnish on and never put any back on! Varnish + Teak =

I would also attack with the electric sander. After that put some of this on it in the classic teak color and enjoy the season with a beautiful teak deck!

[Slayer]

Good man. Get that varnish on and never put any back on! Varnish + Teak =

I would also attack with the electric sander. After that put some of this on it in the classic teak color and enjoy the season with a beautiful teak deck!

Yeah.....I was assuming I would have to do some work on that platform. I hate it when people screw up teak like that. I saw what you linked and how well it worked on your boat. I'm not yet sure if I'm going to simply clean and oil it or if I'll use the sealer you recommend. What you recommend is attractive in terms of longevity so maybe that's what I do. In any case, I'm going to apply some paint stripper, clean it, and sand it all out. Then I'll figure out what I'm going to do with it.

[martinarcher]

Yeah.....I was assuming I would have to do some work on that platform. I hate it when people screw up teak like that. I saw what you linked and how well it worked on your boat. I'm not yet sure if I'm going to simply clean and oil it or if I'll use the sealer you recommend. What you recommend is attractive in terms of longevity so maybe that's what I do. In any case, I'm going to apply some paint stripper, clean it, and sand it all out. Then I'll figure out what I'm going to do with it.

Sounds like a plan. Be sure to post pics after. We all love seeing an awesome deck after it's been brought back form the dead!