Any Teak lovers?

I have noticed lots of threads saying no way to ever owning any boat with Outside teak on this Trawler forum.

I'm a former owner of completely plastic boat a SeaRay, it was more work to keep it waxed than keeping up with my Teak handrails and doors.

I enjoy taking care of the teak, an hour or two every six weeks and it looks great. To be honest the Southwest Florda sun keep me away for months and it showed. But the six months of Snow in New England stopped my waxing.

Capecodder said:

I have noticed lots of threads saying no way to ever owning any boat with Outside teak on this Trawler forum.

I enjoy taking care of the teak, an hour or two every six weeks and it looks great.

Click to expand...

There's a 12 step program complete with support group to set you free from that dependence problem.

Ted

for me it was a 1 step program....


nope...more work on a boat is the antithesis to my enjoyment of her...for others great but NOT me.


funny thing is I am a classic type of boater...just have worked too much on them to want any more.

When its done right, it looks great.

Like a really nice garden in the park....those flowers and shrubs can be spectacular!!!!


As long as these are available to go look at...like beautiful teak on yachts in a nice marina or museum...I'll go look rather than be a slave to it on my boat.


My boat is made for using...not admiring.


If I had the money to pay for it...maybe a different story.

I love teak decks,,,on your boat but not mine.

I love a little teak trim on the exterior and interior of a boat, but then again I am into self flagellation.

Guilty as charged. With a Grand Banks woodie, I'd be lying if I didn't admit to my addiction. In my defense, the boat's in a boathouse so maintenance is somewhat minimal. About that 12 step program.....

I just love the smell of teak degrading in the midday sun

I've always enjoyed working with wood and the satisfaction that comes from either creating something new or restoring something to it's former glory.

This has been an arduous task so far and will continue to be until the reclamation phase is complete. I'd be tickled if all I had to do was maintain it!

My perspective may change down the road....but for now I exclaim "I love the beauty of teak and I'm not ready to admit that I have a refinishing problem!"

Nine years ago, I bought a boat with teak doors and plenty of trim. I kept up with it for about 4 years, but have lost control of the doors. The rails are protected with firehose and I've kept up with the caprails until some recent cleat pops have caused some cracking that needs a remedy. Window trim? Not so great, but the boat stays in a covered slip with window canvas, so the wear doesn't look that bad at 50 ft.

My favored solution to exterior bright work is a covered slip. It makes life easier on the canvas, too.

I'll have to 'fess up. No way would I buy a boat without teak. Its not a big deal to keep it looking pretty good.

I'm retired and on the boat a lot. Sometimes I do a bit of work on the teak, other times not. Just do in little sections at a time so it doesn't take over your life. It probably helps being somewhere that it doesn't rain a lot. Where I am ts simple to use a little #1 oil with wet & dry paper on the rails then a coat of #2 over it for an annual freshen up (Deks Olje)

For my decks, #1 only. And I only have covered sidedecks, cockpit and Poertuguese Bridge left as teak. Areas open to the sun get too damn hot to walk on in bare feet. And being retired, shorts pants and no footwear are de riguer.

There are guys here with real opinions. Many of them hate teak. Trouble is, they repeat themselves.
Guys, we all heard you the first time!

Capecod:
There are others here too. Hopefully you can get a balanced view.
I personally like teak, but wouldn't reject a boat just because it didn't have enough, like the Maritimo 52 for example, I really like the look, even though it lacks exterior teak.
My own boats have all had exterior teak. My 30 ft sailboat had too much, as it was at a time of my life when I didn't have the time or resources to properly maintain it. My 37' sailboat had more, but by then I knew something about maintaining it properly. My present boat has more still, and I especially like the compliments I get for its appearance, after only a little time spent maintaining it.
There have been several threads on proper maintenance of the teak, so I wont repeat what is said there.

koliver said:

There are guys here with real opinions. Many of them hate teak. Trouble is, they repeat themselves.
Guys, we all heard you the first time!

Click to expand...

I don't think there is anybody here who hates teak. It's the maintenance and refinishing of exterior wood that we're objecting to. I like the teak and other wood on the interior of my boat very much.

Ted

I love TEAK, although the best way to view it is on someones boat looking from a dock or as they pass by.

I also love BRIGHT boats (wood boat totally varnished hull), that might anchor nearby.

I think the Home Depot app that can show a room and change wall colors might work to have a shot of my boat , all in varnished mahogany.

Would be wood enough for me!

Insequent hits the nail on the head. The key to sustainable work on wood is to do small amounts of work when the mood, weather, martini and cigar are all aligned just right.

In fact I find this to be true in all of boating. Very few things have to be done right now. Windy docking dynamic? Think it over, maybe the T dock instead. Unless wood is ignored for an extended amount of time, maintaining it on the slow and easy is both enjoyable and rewarding. I'd rather oils wood than wax anytime.

Oh yea, and with all due respect to the yachts where wood yields a mirror shine for all the passer byes to see, gimme a break. Wood is beautiful when it's healthy, not when covered with eighteen coats of the most expensive snake oil potion.

cyfarkas said:

...Oh yea, and with all due respect to the yachts where wood yields a mirror shine for all the passer byes to see, gimme a break. Wood is beautiful when it's healthy, not when covered with eighteen coats of the most expensive snake oil potion.

Click to expand...

Ha, good one, that made me laugh. When the salon hatch on our Carver got nasty looking and cracked (and only the edges were teak anyway, the field was a cheap
marine plywood with a veneer facing) I replaced it with varnished African mahogany. Okay, inlaid it with a little holly and ebony, but that hatch made a huge difference in how that boat felt. I was an anti-teak person myself before then, but boy some wood on a boat is warm and pretty.

My take on Teak...

Had a GB36 with bright teak everywhere and teak decks... P.I.T.A.

Had the custom 50' trawler, teak cap rail only... very managable

Had the 46' SeaRay, acre's of stunning fiberglass and stainless.. it needed to be kept spotless and waxing all the time was a HUGE P.I.T.A.!!

Current Ocean Alexander Europa, Teak decks are a pain but i love them, cap rail and bow rails are kept bright varnished, along with windows under overhangs. all flybridge and remaining teak cleaned every so often and left to go silver. It is a moderate pain but looks great and so far worth it. I may remove the teak from the front deck and house roof at some point, but plan to leave it on the aft deck and under the covered side decks.

Teak makes a yacht look proper, at a cost for sure. Nordhavn's with just a bit of teak on the cap rails has it right
HOLLYWOOD

I keep the teak clean and let it go grey except for a few pieces of trim that I keep covered in Cetol.
With an early Marine Trader it's the only way to stay sane.

My wife bought the Eagle because of the teak decks, rails trim and the teak interior. She figured it would keep me busy. Actually I do enjoy doing the bright work a couple of hours a day time permitting. However we do live on it so its like maintaining a house. Also if its maintained a light sanding and varnishing I'd required. Its the teak swim step and long rub rail that takes the most time and work. Its the calking that usually fails, not the varnish, so in stead of caulking been using epoxy instead, and epoxy for problem areas.

However the interior had to much teak and made the hall and staterooms dark, so we wall papered the hall and one wall in the staterooms, so if in the future the teak could be brought back. The Eagle does get a lot of attention and complements. However I would not want any more teak.

Yeah kinda

I like a little exterior teak. Unfortunately th PO of The Promise was merciless over the years sanding, and ruined most of it.

@Marty, where did you source those stainless side-rails?

They came with the boat. I put them back on after new cap rail .

Wood belongs in the interior. Don't have the energy to work on exterior wood nor want to pay someone else to maintain it. Third-person maintenance bills are sufficient high, thank you.

Colean has a 10 year life on wood. Maybe longer if your not tropical.
COELAN Boat Coating
Not tried it myself yet.