[Fitz]

Gentlemen:

Thanks for all the nice comments. I removed all of my boat's wood when I bought it in the fall of 2002. I brought it all home to my garage and stripped all of the pieces that were in decent shape, using a fast-acting chemical stripper. I then sanded them down to bare wood, finishing with about a 220 grit.

There were a number of pieces that weren't worth saving, including all of the interior gunnell trim, the two bow pieces that frame the sliding door, and the hatch cover over the head. I carefully measured those pieces, then found an excellent lumber yard that carries good teak and has a custom cutting service. I bought everything I needed and had it all custom cut for about $300.

After doing a lot of research, I decided to finish the majority of the wood with Sikkens Cetol Light, which has a matte finish and no orange tint. I first coated that wood with ZAR Wood Stain (#120 - Teak Natural), then finished it with three coats of Cetol Light.

The only things I did not finish with Cetol were the three horizontal deck hatches, the bow pulpit, and the cleat and outrigger bases. After taking all of that wood down, I just stained it with the ZAR and oiled it with generic teak oil. I figured that the foot traffic, sun beating, and general fishing abuse they would take would quickly ruin the Cetol finish and create more of a problem than simply staining and oiling them. A season's worth of use confirmed that assumption. I ended up re-staining and oiling those pieces twice over the summer season, which took a total of 15 minutes.

I'm happy to report that I did not have to refinish any of the Cetol-treated wood this winter. It still looks as good as the day I installed it. However, I'm sure that some of that longevity is due to the fact that my boat is rack-stored indoors, and that a sun-beaten boat would fare worse.

I personally get a great deal of satisfaction out of both the maintenance and the final result, so the periodic work that wood requires is no problem to me. I hope this info is helpful.