Teak handrails?

Epifanes High gloss.

Stands but requires a coat every year for gloss particularly if you are in tropical area
Very important if possible to reach close to 1mm thickness.

This forces from bare wood to 5-7 coats.
as you reach more coats it becomes darker.

And a lot of patience

The boat I am buying has extensive timber rails and external timber, all of it varnished at great expense in 2013, all of it flaking and degraded today.

It is being suggested to me, for longevity reasons (I want to use and enjoy the boat, not endlessly paint it) to use a good quality exterior house paint, tinted to a SOLID timber/shade of brown colour of my choice.

I tend to agree, at the end of the day its going to look a lot better than what is there at present and if I can get 10 years or more from it all the better.

Nomad Willy said:

Bill maybe "just seal" is'nt that good of a seal.
If you did that water may sneak in under the CR and you'd be right back to water intrusion. Boat builders thought they'd sealed the stringers in the bottom of the hull too but almost all have rotted out. And they worshiped FG even more than most here worship epoxy.

Water goes everywhere in a boat.

Click to expand...

True.

And after reading Teds follow up post I now see what they were trying to, and did, achieve. Full blending in of the wood to the fiberglass.