Teak trim is an important part of the beauty of many boats, especially sailboats. Teak is quite durable but over time it may fade to a dull, concrete gray color and dry out and develop cracks, especially if not properly maintained. Fortunately, faded teak can usually be salvaged and restored to very near its original beauty. It just takes a little time, patience, elbow grease -- and oxalic acid. Here is a photo showing two pieces (the companionway slides) from my 50 year old sailboat. The one on the left is what it looked like when we got the boat; the one on the right is after cleaning it with oxalic acid. What a difference! And the cleaning took only minutes!
To restore teak trim it is best to first remove it from the boat. Usually the time it takes to remove it is less than the time it would take to mask off the surrounding areas and the results will be much better. With the wood off you it is much easier to clean, bleach, sand, and refinish each piece. Be sure to keep track of the fasteners. Sometimes you will find different length fasteners used in different places on the same piece of trim. Putting them back in the right places can be critical. Using a short fastener where a long one is needed will weaken the connection. Trying to use a long fastener where a short one came out may let it poke through, damaging other surfaces or equipment. It may seem overkill, but if there are differences, it is a good idea to number them and the corresponding places the go as you remove them. For better performance as well as a better looking finsihed product, clean the old hardware to remove dirt and corrosion. If any are stripped. broken, or badly corroded, get new stainless steel or brass hardware to replace them. The new hardware will be much easier to install, will be safer and more secure, and will give you many years of good service. Using damaged hardware can yield unsightly and unsafe results and might cause expensive damage. Brass is typically needed in underwater applications and either brass or stainless steel should work find above the waterline where most of your teak bright work will be.
If you have large areas of teak decking or other places where removal isn't practical, mask off any adjacent surfaces to protect them from damage from cleaners, solvents, sanding, and new finishes. Blue painters tape (or the green ''frog'' tape) and plastic drop cloths or newspaper should be sufficient.
Teak trim usually needs a good cleaning as the first step in restoration. A solution of TSP is often recommended for removing dirt and grime. If the teak is badly faded, use oxalic acid to bring it back to near its original color. I couldn't believe how well it worked on the teak trim from our 50 year old Venture 24! It started out concrete grey and cleaned up to a nice, natural teak color. Use a stiff brush to get into any grooves and crevices in the wood. I used a 4" plastic scrub brush. You don't want to use a steel brush because you don't want to make new
gouges in the wood, only clean out dirt in existing grooves and
scratches. When you are finished rinse and wipe of any excess cleaner and let it dry thoroughly. Next you will most likely want to bleach out and deep clean the faded surface using oxalic acid. Oxalic acid usually comes in a powder or granular form. Follow the directions on the container to mix it with water for use Brush the solution on the teak, working it well into crevices You should quickly see faded, grey surfaces returning to their natural teak color. If at first you don't get good results right away you may need to repeat the process, perhaps using a stronger concentration of oxalic acid. Once your teak is clean (it will actually look like teak again!), rinse and dry it. Then sand it lightly to smooth the surface and prepare it for the final restoration steps. If there are any major cracks or any holes that won't be used for installation, fill them with wood putty and stain it to match the wood. An alternative to wood putty is to use sawdust or sanding dust from the piece your are repairing mixed with wood glue to fill holes.
Once your teak has been cleaned and restored using oxalic acid and dried, rub it down with teak oil. Be generous as you apply it and rub it in well. Let the teak oil soak in for a few hours until it is no longer wet to the touch, perhaps even overnight. Then give it a light sanding with fine sandpaper and wipe it down with a tack cloth before applying your finish coat. Teak oil will give it a deep, rich tone and help protect it from the elements.
Apply a finish coat of clear varnish or clear polyurethane. I prefer to use spar varnish. It has been proven through centuries of use on wooden boats and yields a rich, shiny finish. Polyurethane, a modern replacement, is usually less expensive but will probably yield good results, at least for a time. I recently read that varnish may chip or chalk over time and polyurethane will retain its deep shine longer so I may be switching to polyurethane and in fact am trying it out on some teak handrails now. For best results and a deeper shine you should apply two or more coats with light sanding with 400 grit wet and dry sandpaper between coats. Some experts recommend as many as 6-8 coats! Do not sand after the final coat! Handrails and toe rails that get a lot of use are strong candidates for multiple coats of varnish to protect them against wear and exposing the wood to the elements. Same with teak decking in high traffic areas. The recommendations I've found online suggest 6-8 coats of varnish or polyurethane for teak but I find most people usually only use 2-3 coats. Give yourself plenty of time since it will take several hours for each coat to dry before you can apply the next coat. There is some support for the idea of "hot coating", e.g., applying a second coat while the first one is still tacky to enhance bonding of the two coats. Everything I've read says never do more than two layers at a time when hot coating. You don't need to and probably can't sand between coats when hot coating. Letting each coat dry enough to be sanded between coats ultimately should yield the deepest, smoothest, shiniest finish. I have found I usually get a nice, deep shine with just 3 or 4 coats of clear finish, but it may not stand the test of time as well as the recommended 6-8 coats, especially in high traffic areas. While many products will be dry to the touch in 2-3 hours, I have found letting it dry overnight gives the best results when sanding between coats. Sanding too soon will dull the finish and gum the sandpaper as it digs into soft material under the dry top layer.
Finally re-install each piece in its original position, using new stainless steel hardware as necessary. If you reuse the original hardware clean the thoroughly and make sure it isn't damaged. Tighten securely but don't over tighten. If you refinished pieces in place, remove the masking around them. Then sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labor, including the compliments from fellow boaters as well as how nice it looks to you!
If your hand rails are too badly damaged to be restored you can buy replacements. They come in sizes from 1 loop to about 6 loops. If your boat doesn't have hand rails you can install them fairly easily. I would measure the length of the area where I want the rails and order the size and/or number of new teak rails I need to cover it. When they arrive I would take them inside the cabin and mark the ceiling in the center of each place the rail will contact the deck. Choose stainless steel screws long enough to pass through the mounting surface and about 3/4""to 1" into the base of the rail. Then drill holes through the mounting surface just large enough to accommodate the the stainless steel screws you will use to install the teak. You might also want to drill small pilot holes in the handrail to make installing the screws easier and prevent splitting. Most of the hand rails I've seen are attached using wood screws from the bottom but there could be models that have bolts pre-installed in each base. The procedure is still basically the same. You could mark and drill the holes from the outside but I prefer starting inside in case there is a light fixture or some other obstacle I might drill through from the outside. Of coarse you need to make sure the entire space they will occupy on the outside is also clear. You will want to put a durable finish on your new handrails before installing them. I like spar varnish for its rich, deep finish and a long (hundreds of years) history of use on wooden boats. You might want handrails inside the cabin for added stability when moving around when the boat is in motion. Another common place to add hand holds is near any stairs or steps. I added a single loop teak hand rail to the end of my companionway slide to make it easier to grab and pull it closed. When installing the hardware make sure it is secure but don't over tighten it, which could risk stripping or damaging the wooden rail. Always use correct sized washers and/or backing plates to prevent the screws from pulling through the mounting surface. You might use finish washers with pad head or recessed head screws for a more finished look. For added backing, use a fender washer sized to fit the screw. Fender washers can be used alone or under finish washers. If you plan to use fender washers without finish washers used round headed screws instead of recessed heads.
Large pieces of teak, such as hatchboards, sometimes swell or warp due to damp weather or high humidity. Swelling can usually be corrected by letting the boards dry thoroughly. You can sometimes correct the warping by laying the boards on a hard, flat surface, placing another flat straight panel on top and adding 50-100 lbs of weight. Leave the weight in places for several days. It might help if the boards are kept someplace with fairly high humidity at first. If that isn't possible, try wrapping the boards in a damp towel before stacking the weights. Take the boards out and check to see if there has been any improvement every day or so. If using a towel and it has dried out, re-dampen it when you re-stack the weights to further straighten the boards. If you can't get them to straighten out you might be able to plane them to improve appearance and fit -- if you have the right equipment and skills to do the planing. If you have to plane or sand them, be sure to refinish them for both aesthetics and to seal the wood against more moisture. Maintaining a good top coat will help prevent moisture from them from swelling or causing other damage. If there are signs of the varnish or clearcoat wearing away, refinish them as soon as practical to prevent additional damage.
Hatchboards and sliding hatches often begin to stick after a few years of use. Sometimes it is because the boards have warped or swollen. Sometimes the sliding surfaces have become worn. If the surface is worn you may be able to install some UHMW or HDPE tape over the damaged surface to restore smooth operation. Swollen batch boards need to be dried. If they still bind try sanding down the edges until they fit into the slot again. Be sure to refinish them after sanding. A proper waterproof finish will look good, reduce friction, and reduce water absorption to prevent further sticking. Pay special attention to the edges where moisture is most likely to seep in and cause problems. I had some hatchboards made of a masonite like paneling material and in order to restore the mating edges I had to soak them with varnish to stiffen the fuzzy, mushy edges, then file and re-varnish them for both appearance and so they will slide better and be more resistant to moisture in the future.
Teak hatchboards can be very expensive to replace if they are warped or damaged beyond repair. A good modern alternative is make hatchboards out of marine grade starboard, an HDPE plastic material. It looks good, needs no varnish and won't warp. Teak hatchboards are usually notched to fit into the slides. You can usually use starboard about the same thickness as the notch so you don't have to notch it. If the starboard is too thick for the slides you may have to notch it or replace the slides with formed aluminum channels. If your boat has 2 or 3 piece hatchboards you an either replace them a single piece of starboard or cut the starboard to match the original pieces. A single piece might be too heavy or too awkward so you may have to cut it to match the originals. If you choose to cut it horizontally, I suggest cutting it at 45 degree angle with the high side inside and the low side outside so water running down it won't go inside. Starboard usually doesn't need to be painted and in fact painting it might not even work. Manufacturers discourage painting starboard. Try to choose a color that works for your boat when you buy the starboard. There aren't a lot of colors to choose from so just pick the one you like best or best matches the color scheme on your boat. White is usually a safe bet in almost any situation. The hatchboards on our 1985 Macgregor 25 were recently replaced when we bought the boat. The previous owner had purchased hatchboards made of pre-finished pressed hardboard (similar to Masonite). They are light weight and easy to handle and look good but they absorb moisture and swell. After one season I filed and sanded the swollen edges, then refinished the boards with clear polyurethane, apply extra to the exposed edges to minimize moisture intrusion in the hardboard.
Don't freak out, teak out!
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