Cetol lifting repair

[Adelaide]

Cetol Touch Up

Hello all,

I have a question for those who use Cetol. The Previous Owner states that he applies "Cetol Light". The toe rail has spots of uneven Cetol where I can see a different layer underneath. The layer underneath has much more "grain" to it than the Cetol, which has lost the grain natural look to it.

Certainly I would love to one day sand everything down and start over, but I have to pace myself. The Cetol in all other areas (Hand rails, doors etc...) looks good enough.

So the questions.....

1. what happened to where a lower coat had wood grain look and the upper coats look more like a painted surface?

2. Can I just sand the low spots and add more Cetol Light to those areas, to build it back up? What's the fix, if there is one?

I will get some more pictures and post them later. But here is one that will get you started:

Thanks.

 

[Edelweiss]

I'm sure there are many opinions on how to do this and IMHO it varies by the amount of sun exposure. But from the pic, they probably repaired an area where the Cetol peeled off or was damaged and it just needs more coats over it.

I find that if you use only the Cetol regular, after a few coats it starts to look more like paint than oiled or varnished wood, all the grain disappears. From bare teak I start out with two coats of regular and then two coats of Cetol Light drying between each coat. Each year I rough it all up with a nylon scotch bright, rinse it off, let it dry well and apply another coat of light.

I first prepare any damaged areas, sanding it down, reapply three coats of Cetol and then overcoat all the wood with one final coat of Cetol light. It seems to weather well and if you do this religiously every year you can probably go ten or more years with 100% sun exposure before it starts to get that dark look. At that point I strip it back to bare wood and start over to get the wood grain back. This is my 11th year and I am overdue. We're cutting it all back down now, pulling the rails up and starting over.

On the other hand, my brothers boat is in a boathouse, he rarely has to touch it up at all, except for damaged spots. Its really all about how well it was put on to begin with, wear and tear, and how much sun it gets.

Also its usually not a good idea to use the acid chemical removers to clean the wood, as they can be very caustic, opens the grain of the wood and it may become very coarse and surface damaged.
LB

 

[Peter B]

Yes, I use Cetol a lot, and find the natural or clear (? light) is the way to go. The darker coloured versions do build up a sort of 'dead' painted look if over-coated frequently, but the Natural seems not to in my experience. Cetol® Marine Natural Teak Wood Finish for Yachts | Interlux

 

[marinetrader]

I agree that the natural Cetol is the best. Trying to match the Cetol marine with the painted look is difficult if not impossible. I would suggest you remove all of it and start all over. I used a product called Dads, a water based paint remover. It goes on easily and is easy to use.

 

[Adelaide]

Thanks for the replies. I think I will start with the damage spot repair as Edelweiss outlined. I have so many projects on the boat right now..... I need to pace myself. If that doesn't work, I'll tackle the removal of all the old Cetol in the spring.

 

[BruceK]

I agree that the natural Cetol is the best. Trying to match the Cetol marine with the painted look is difficult if not impossible. I would suggest you remove all of it and start all over. I used a product called Dads, a water based paint remover. It goes on easily and is easy to use.

I`m a fan of Cetol, easy to apply, seems to last well. I have used strippers to remove old finishes but find it messy, it can get where you don`t want it, even the scraped off muck can "burn" anything it touches. I found a heat gun ( $20), used carefully,with a scraper, effective cleaner and safer removing old paint/varnish, and you don`t need to buy stripper.
But I don`t know your "Dads" product,it could be much better than what I used. BruceK

 

[Marin]

I've tried virtually paint and finish remover on the retail market including Dad's. I've not found any of them to be at all efficient or effective at removing finish. Sure, they'll do it eventually, but environmental and safety regulations have so watered down (pun intended) the potency of retail strippers that they are very slow and very frustrating and very messy to use. As compared to the strippers that were available in the 70s when I was refinishing gunstocks and the like. Back then they had strippers that would penetrate into the wood and lift oils right out, let alone what they'd do to surface finishes. But get any on your skin and it was a major and serious burn. Today's stuff is safe to use, but that's rendered it ineffective for the job.

Now there are probably strippers avaialble to the commercial market that are as effecive as the products I worked with in the 70s and 80s. But I've never found anything available in the consumer retail market, including stuff advertised as "Super Strong," and "Heavy Duty," that was worth the time or the money.

So we long ago switched to using a heat gun and that works great. It doesn't have the grain penetrating power of the strippers I used in the 70s, but it does a great job of removing varnish, Bristol, paint, etc.