Teak swim platform

[reelapeelin]

Originally Posted by Fitz

Nipper:

Sikkens Light has no orange cast. I highly recommend it, in matte finish with 3 coats. That's what I have on all of my teak except the hatch covers and cleat bases. Because those pieces are horizontal and take a lot of abrasion and direct sun, I prefer to stain and oil them once a season.

I'm now going on my fifth year since redoing all of the teak, and I've only had to re-finish one swim platform because the Sikkens got deeply scraped with sand. The Sikkens-finished wood still looks as good as when I first refinished it. I should add, however, that I store my boat indoors on a rack when not in use, so my wood has never taken a lot of weather beating. I'm sure I would have had to refinish it by now if I routinely left it outside without a cover.

Here's a tip: after cleaning and sanding the teak (any decent teak cleaner and sufficient elbow grease will do the job), use a good, oil-based teak stain - "natural" color - before applying the Sikkens. It gives it an extra-rich look. You can see some photos of my boat in the gallery at this link:

http://www.wellcraftv20.com/gallery/album06.

Whatever you decide to do, good luck, and show us some pics. I know my thinking is completely opposite to that of MacoJoe and some others on this forum, whose opinions I respect, but I personally love teak. The abundance of beautiful wood on this boat was one of the biggest incentives that led me to buy and restore it.

Fitz

Fitz...glad to see ya show up every now and then...

I have always admired your boat from the 1st time I saw your gallery back in '03 when I started...the cabinet behind the capt's chair and the splash-board across the front of the splashwell...all of it's BEAUTIFUL!!

Although I went the Starboard route w/mine (Tupperware some call it LOL), I still appreciate the look of well kept teak and the work that goes into maintaining it...here's to ya!!