We don't know if you can get it where you are but, aboard Leopard
Normand III, we are sold on a terrific product by Sikkens. It is called Cetol and we paid about US$100 for a gallon in the Caribbean.
You make sure the wood is as clean as you can get it (by scrubbing, sanding, whatever you see fit) and completely dry.
You then apply Cetol with a brush, sponge or cloth and leave to dry. There is NO SANDING between coats. Three coats seems to be plenty. We used the
'natural' colour, which is also referred to as 'Pine' in their
equivalent product sold to the building trade in the U.K. under the name
of Cetol Filter 7. There are other colours, but the one we used kept the
teak looking exactly as though it were wet (in terms of colour) but
non-slip and very good-looking.
Once a year, you just clean the surface with ordinary detergent (for dish-washing) and rinse well, allow to dry and then apply a new coat of Cetol. We have been experimenting. Our coach roof was given three coats of Cetol in October 1999 and has received absolutely no treatment since, apart from being washed down regularly along with the decks.
In the past three months, the product has disappeared entirely from a few points, having finally worn away, exposing the teak looking exactly as it did before we ever applied any.
We are told that we should be able to scrub the whole area and apply Cetol without attempting to remove what remains. We haven't done this yet so
we cannot comment on whether it looks just as good or not, but will do
after the work has been done.
Where we have done an annual application it looks great and,
we have noticed, if chafe or accident succeeds in scraping the wood bare, it is easy to touch it in without it being obvious.
Although these products are available in chandlers in
the Caribbean, apparently their European counterparts haven't latched on
to this range yet, so you may need to try builders' merchants.
Linnet Woods for MarineZine
|
