Thursday, October 24, 2013

Teak, teak and more teak!

Don't get me wrong, we love the look of beautiful, warm, freshly varnished teak. However, I spent the first 3 1/2 years of my professional boating career aboard a tall ship that was covered in teak, all of which needed varnishing. It was kind of like a bridge, once you get it all done, you go back to the beginning and start again.


We decided after we had varnished the same item several times over the years, that we would never own a boat endowed with lots of teak. And here we have ended up with one...best laid plans of mice and men I guess.

Whilst researching Marine Traders during the survey and pre-purchase process, I came across the Trawler Beach House blog. Chuck had posted about removing the hand rail and brow teak on Beach House, which seemed like a very sensible thing to do, not only to reduce the required varnish work, but more importantly to ensure there was no chance of water ingress.

So work has begun which is best shown with photos.

The teak is in pretty bad shape having been sanded so much over the last 30 years, so removal really is the best thing to do.





Removal was pretty easy after the screws from the hand rails and those holding the actual teak strip were removed. It ended up coming off in long planks, which will be run through the thicknesser and recycled into something at some point - perhaps I will make some cup holders which are needed around the boat.


 Not only is this job a good idea from an ongoing varnish maintenance point of view, but it has also exposed areas that were badly in need of drying out, which the teak plank and masses of sealing compound had not allowed.

 


With the teak removed and the joint cleaned up and allowed to dry for a few days, it was filled with 2 part epoxy filler. This is 1:1 filler that is easy to mix, has a pot life of over half an hour, and is very easy to sand. In the past I have used west or other epoxy with added fairing filler, but have found that 2 part epoxy filler is so much better with less mess and a longer pot life.


Next is to fiberglass the fly-bridge to the cabin top. But that is to come.....

Update.

We have had fantastic late autumn weather this year that has allowed the project to progress nicely.

With all the teak removed, and the gap between the flybridge sides and the cabin top filled and sanded, it was time to lock it all together with a fiberglass band.


The band was then sanded and another round of 2 part epoxy filling took place.


Followed by lots of sanding!




Update.

Painted White!!






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