crack filling on teak

[Patrick]

All you boaters with teak. What do you use for crack filling? I used a colored wood filler last time I finished the teak. Several wood filler spots were the first to fail.What product do you use?

Patrick

[Randygh]

Is the teak exposed to the elements--water, sun, exhaust or is it interior wood?

[Patrick]

Teak rail across the stern. Outside 100% of the time. Used colored wood filler and several coats of varnish last two times I refinished. The cracks i filled in ,look like the first place to see water/moisture intrusion. I was thinking of trying a different filler and varnish.

[debbie]

We've been doing a ton of research on this, because our teak needs to be refinished. We thought we'd get someone to do it properly, and then maintain it ourselves. We don't have real "cracking" but do have grooves that could crack, they've gotten mildew in them. So far we've had 4-5 people look at the boat. They all have different opinions about the kind of varnish to use, but they're all in agreement that everything needs to be stripped, then sanded, then bleached, then 12 coats of varnish (with light sanding in between) need to be applied.

Next weekend the Center for Wooden Boats is conducting a two-day course on maintaining brightwork. We got one of the 6 slots. So, we can ask. Ping me after June 5 if you don't see an update.

[Randygh]

My boat's teak swimstep was in bad shape when we purchased the boat. Since we store the boat on the trailer in our shed, and it isn't in water more than 20-30 days/year, I decided to finish it with varnish. The Admiral wanted to oil it, but I thought since it isn't exposed to the elements the varnish would make a nice finish. I sanded, sanded, sanded, and sanded down to nice oily wood. I think I put on 7 or 8 coats of high gloss polyurethane initially. It turned out great and now each spring I lightly sand it and apply two coats of high gloss Schooner Gold varnish by Petit or Interlux. The swimstep and my teak handrail really do look nice.

[Nauti Time]

Our teak was in bad shape when we bought it. No cracks, but grey and rough. We sanded it all down back to real smooth. For the first 2 years we used teak oil, six coats each year. It just didn't seem to last. This past year Pep talked me into using Cetol on it. We used the Cetol Natural. We sanded it all down again, then applied 3 coats. It turned out beautiful. My brother-in-law said he only has to apply it every 2 years and his sailboat is exposed year round in a marina. All he says to do is scotchbrite it, then apply 1 coat every 2 years after the initial application. Hopefully all this is all true, I guess we will find out. I'll try and take a picture in the next couple of days - if this rain lets up.

[Randygh]

Regarding filling the cracks in the teak handrail, it might be worthwhile to post the question on the Wooden Boat Forum.

http://forum.woodenboat.com/index.php

There is a very good forum regarding making and repairing wood boats.