I’ve always let my teak decks go to their natural grey color. A lot of boats with 36 year old teak are ripping up the teak planks and replacing it with low maintenance finishing such as Awlgrip Nonskid. Usually the reasons are because the teak has worn thin from age, scrubbing and bleaching or the deck is beginning to leak. I love the look and feel of teak decks and am starting to worry about the remaining life of the teak on Apropos, so I decided to take some action. First of all, I believe there is plenty of thickness to the teak planks on Apropos, and I don’t know of any leaks in the decks. I figured since the boat sat covered on the hard in arid San Diego for 12 years (by the previous owner), the teak hasn’t aged as much as most boats the same age. Plus I’ve been careful about not scrubbing them with stiff-bristle brushes, and have never pressure washed them. I also believe the best shape they were in was during our trip where they were constantly bathed in saltwater, which is a good natural cleaner for teak.
I’ve been hearing and reading about a product called Semco that is used to seal teak decks and thought I’d give it a try. Initially I was only going to treat a small part of the boat–the cockpit, but I liked the results so much that I ended up doing the entire boat. The procedure is to first clean the teak, then brush on 2 coats of Semco in the same day. After that, a seasonal coat should be all it takes to keep the teak looking a natural color. And more importantly, it should help preserve the teak without scrubbing.
The cleaning is the worst part because it requires strong chemicals that could harm the deck if done incorrectly. There are several products for this and I chose Teak Wonder, which is applied in 2 steps. First is the Cleaner solution that is applied to a wet deck in small sections at a time, not allowing it to dry. I applied it from a squirt bottle and worked it into the wood with a soft nylon brush, scrubbing against the grain of the teak. I allowed it to work for a few minutes before hosing it off. It must take off a very thin layer of wood along with the dirt because it’s pretty grimy before hosing it off with lots of fresh water. The second step is to apply a brightener and gently brush it in, letting it sit for a few minutes before hosing off. I was careful about not letting the cleaning and brightening chemicals to come in contact with the brightwork by masking it with plastic. This cleaning is definitely something I wouldn’t want to do every season. If it works as advertised, I should only have to apply the sealer from here on.
Applying the Semco sealer is very easy–just brush it on with a foam brush. The first coat seemed to soak in more of the sealer, which has a natural pigment and is the consistency of water. The instructions recommended applying 2 coats in the same day. After drying, the decks looked pretty good and appeared to be well sealed as water beaded up when sprayed on the deck.
Teak Plug Replacement
The cabin-top decking has no plugs so it must have been glued down, but the sidedecks and cockpit decking is all screwed down. Every now and then a teak plug, or bung, either falls out or wears thin. I recently went around the boat and replaced around 20 plugs. Here’s pics from one example:
