Pensacola FL Sailing Blog - sailingnightwatch

As classic looking boats go, I have had people say I do not have that much teak. I always invite them back for the next time we are taking the teak down to bare wood. The boat has a cap rail around the gunnels and the cockpit. It also has a Taft rail held in place by 15-12” spindles. Other than that, the main hatch, cockpit table and a 10’ bowsprit, we do not have any teak. I have seen a few boats with more teak. And, there are a lot of trawlers around with a lot of teak.Not too long before we bought the boat the owners had a couple coats of Cetol applied to the wood. Before that the wood had been allowed to gray out. There was not much sanding, if any done before the Cetol was applied. The wood was gnarly to say the least. Sanding out many years of neglect was a major task. There were places on the cockpit cap rail that had been sanded down to the point that the screw that held the wood together were sanded half way through. I removed the screws and drilled holes the size of the original bungs, until the opening from the threads disappeared. These holes were then filled with bungs and then sanded level with the cap rail. That cap rail was probably made from 4 quarter and through the years has been sanded down to about a half inch.After sanding, I built up 10 coats of varnish. This was maintained by sanding and adding a spring and fall coat. This lasted about 6 years. At that time there were enough spots that to maintain a quality look, it had to be sanded down again.