Teak paneling repair and replace

Please help. 44 marine trader. Wish to replace some of the stained Teak wall paneling. Especially around windows where leaked for years before me. What exactly is it and is it available?

My Wife and I just purchased a a 1975 CHB Sedan. We are going to the doing the something and would like info on this as well.

Let’s hope subscribers can give us some info on this challenge. Thanks, Jack

The solid wood should be obvious. It can be easily sanded and varnished.
I believe I started with 80 grit on a DOA sander, finished with 180 grit. I used thinned Epiphanes rapidcoat for the first several coats.

The teak paneling is most likely teak plywood glued to a plywood core. I Don't believe it is veneer applied with contact glue. It's not easy to remove. Teak plywood is sold by any local plywood specialty shop in any thickness. 1/8" and 1/4" are probably most common for interior panels. $100/min per sheet w.o. shipping. (See https://www.boulterplywood.com )

It is typically too thin to sand and water has probably damaged the panel and the glue. Panels usually need to be replaced. I plan on using a multitool to section off an appropriate size, then chisel it off. I'll then use 40 or 60 grit DOA to remove excess epoxy. Make a template from heavy paper. Epoxy on the new piece. Sounds simple but I am expecting a messy job.

I rebuilt my helm door and it came out tolerably well. I used a fine toothed circ saw blade and made sure the chipping of the plywood was on the back side. I am procrastinating on replacing the teak panels around the windows. Maybe this fall.

My experience with Taiwanese trawlers is that the interior wall panels are actually surfaced with a teak veneer. I'm pretty sure that's what is used on Marine Traders. I'll be looking into it in more detail for my Jefferson 42 which is pretty similar to a Marine Trader after I finish my current project which is refinishing the teak cabinets and trim on my upper helm. If you in fact have teak veneer on your walls you can google marine teak veneers and you will find many sites selling it in various forms. Hope this helps.

I have done some of this work in the past. I have found the best way to make templates is to get some thin underlayment plywood and rip it into strips maybe 2 to 3 inches wide.Than use the strips to form a template, place a strip along each edge of the area to be replaced. Staple the corners together, with a power stapler. You may need to clamp or put temporary staples to hold the pieces while fitting. Once together you will have a solid template you can transfer to the new plywood. You can also use the template to test that a solid piece of new wood will be able to be maneuvered in place clearing all fixed obstacles. This is a good way of insuring you will not waste expensive material.

Leatherneck said:

My experience with Taiwanese trawlers is that the interior wall panels are actually surfaced with a teak veneer. I'm pretty sure that's what is used on Marine Traders. I'll be looking into it in more detail for my Jefferson 42 which is pretty similar to a Marine Trader after I finish my current project which is refinishing the teak cabinets and trim on my upper helm. If you in fact have teak veneer on your walls you can google marine teak veneers and you will find many sites selling it in various forms. Hope this helps.

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In my C&L 44, appears to be from the same molds as Marine Trader, the interior panelling is ordinary 1/2" plywood surfaced with 1/4" teak plywood, so a full 3/4". the two are glued together, so you can't pull off the teak ply layer. Where I have replaced water damaged wood, I tried veneer with awful results, so went with a new layer of teak ply over top of the damaged wood. Looks good, never noticeable, and the new teak has long ago faded to the same colour as the undamaged original, which is beside it. In moe location I was able to get the damaged up and fitted new evenly.

If I remember correctly when I replaced the portholes on my boat the interior was 1/4” teak plywood. It has been about 3 years since I did that and I wasn’t really looking at what it was made out of.

JohnP, koliver, SoWhat and Comodave - that is some very helpful information. I'll be replacing portlites this fall and will be assessing what I need to do to replace interior panels. Have any of you tried sanding the existing panels? I was thinking that 1/4" should take a light sanding.

No, I have not tried sanding because I don’t think it will work. I think the stains go through the Teak vernier on the plywood. We had several places where there are stains. I fixed the leaks so they won’t get any worse and just live with the stains. I think sanding will make it worse. But you could try sanding in some out of the way location and see what happens.

I might try sanding a small area in a less seen location. I'll report back on it when I get to it.

Try a heat gun and a sharp scraper to remove the finish. This method removes less wood which is a consideration with veneer. Treat the stained areas with oxalic acid to remove some or most of the black. Sand with 150# on a light orbital sander, I use a Porter-Cable 333. Stain if needed then build with the urethane of your choice.

If you are not sure if you need stain, wipe some mineral spirits on the freshly sanded wood and compare the color. Remember that the freshly done spots will darken over time so it's ok if they are a bit lighter.

Rob

I would recommend using a card scraper to remove the least material, get best finish with little chance of gouging.
Learn how to use and sharpen it on some practice pieces. Also when buying one also buy the tool for rolling the edge.
https://www.google.com/search?sxsrf...YuNS4xmAEAoAEBsAEP&sclient=mobile-gws-wiz-hp#

Unfortunately, once it's water stained like that it won't go back to normal even if you remove the finish and sand it a bit. Maybe with a bleach if you did the whole panel?


Like somebody else said, raw veneer is difficult to work with - takes somebody with a bit of experience. Best to put a new piece of teak-faced ply on. Better yet is to paint it white. IMO the veneer looks kind of cheesy compared to the real teak trim which white paint helps accentuate. Take a look at our panels, they brighten up the boat quite a bit.

My prior owner had some water stains around the V-berth portholes. He pulled the original portholes (plastic) and replaced them with $tainle$$ $teel ($615 each). As part of the project he used self-adhesive teak veneer to cover the stained area. I've used similar self-adhesive veneer (walnut and bird's eye maple) on shoreside projects with great success. But on the boat the wood underlayment appears to swell and shrink enough to bubble the veneer. It doesn't leak, but over the years the patch of veneer around both portholes is now very obvious. Part of it may be that a varnish was used that doesn't breath enough. I don't know, but I wouldn't try a stick-on veneer to cover a discolored area even after the cause of the original damage is fixed.

The solution is peel and stick teak veneer. It’s real teak, just a thin layer of it. It comes in large rolls and has an adhesive backing. The key is to make sure you have a very flat surface to start with. If not, any significant high spots will telegraph through. I did a large dash on my last trawler. Cut the pieces to size, prepped the surface, stuck it on. Then, I varnished it. It looked like a gorgeous new dash. You could do this on any teak veneer surface. It’s easy and a lot less inexpensive than ripping out the old and putting in the new.

Where did you buy yours and how did you cut it?

On our 1982 President where we had water stains from windows I sanded the surface to make it flat and remove all of the old varnish. I used Zar oil based stain and mixed a few different combinations to match the color. I believe the Teak and Cherry worked the best. The best thing about the oil based stains is that they are time dependent on how dark they get. You can paint it on, wait anywhere from a few minutes to just before it dries and then using a rag wipe it down to lighten the color up. Let it dry and if it needs more apply more. If it matches apply some varnish to seal it all up. It is not perfect but it is much better than before.

I cannot remember where I purchased the peel and stick teak veneer, but a google search reveals a lot of vendors. The way I cut it was using straight edge, razor blade and/or strong sizzers. Varnishing it once it was in place and laid down make it look brand new.

I use marine ply and then put the teak veneer over it. Most production boats are built that way. Veneer isn’t as hard as most say just go slow and glue as you go

Creative, less-work solutions:

If the panel is smooth or can be made so with light sanding, and you have a good eye for color, faux paint the discolored area with artists' acrylics to match surrounding color and grain detailing, then varnish to match sheen.



Rather than irreversibly painting the teak paneling, use high-grade, vinyl wallpaper. It can be applied to selective areas, may be easily undone by future owners, and especially with tone-on-tone patterns available, is less harsh than the contrast of teak trim and white walls.



I've also seen murals painted or charts of favorite waters decoratively decoupaged on a damaged wall.


For longevity and to create a classic look, varnish interior teak trim with a gloss rather than matte finish. Good luck!

I am nearing the end of a complete refit where I removed all internal lining.
I dug and ground the internal walls back to the fiberglasd skin.
I then made templates out of mdf strip's and used a hot glue gun to join them.
Marine ply was then cut and glued to the fibreglass using megapoxy glue.
Some before and after shots

The walls will undoubtedly be plywood faced with a teak veneer of whatever thickness.
I have attempted water damage repair to existing panels many times including stripping, sanding, bleaching, staining etc - all without success.
However if the panel is really sound, a good professional faux finisher should be able to correct the defects. He/she may have to treat the whole panel.
If there is any suggestion of weakness in the panel, it should be cut out and replaced with new plywood then veneered.
The problem with using new teak veneer is that most times it's much darker than your existing interior teak. This is due to sun 'lightening' over time.
I use an Anigre veneer which is very light in color but with similar grain patterns to teak.
You can readily darken veneer but it's almost impossible to lighten.
I took off an existing small panel, took it to Sherwin Williams along with an Anigre sample and they made up a quart of stain to match.
Depending on the existing grain configuration, you'll need to order either 'flat cut' or 'quarter sawn' veneer. Google it to see the differences.

Marigold said:

Please help. 44 marine trader. Wish to replace some of the stained Teak wall paneling. Especially around windows where leaked for years before me. What exactly is it and is it available?

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Hi Marigold!
We have a 1978 Marine Trader 44 and we had some water stains and veneer damage to deal with too. I wanted to save everything we could! We tried several options for replacement peel and stick and just couldn't quite find what we wanted as far as color goes.
I'm not sure how severe your damage is, but for us there were some places where it was just discoloration and slight damage, that we cleaned up put a coat of poly over and accepted the "distressed look". I actually like it a lot.
Walls that were just full damage and unsalvageable we used marine plywood to replace the wall and installed vinyl flooring with FRP glue in a color called Sapele Red from Lowe's. It seems to match up really well with the original teak that we left in place.
I wish you the best, matching things up is tough!