Drat. It is with profound sadness that I announce a failure of the Cetol on one of Touche's handrails. Sniff. I noticed some moderate separation near one of the loop bases. It had been 12-15 years since I applied that Cetol.
I had diligently applied a maintenance coat of Cetol Gloss every six months until last year. I had skipped a couple of the six months maintenance coats of gloss because I was rebuilding our flood damaged house. Not sure if that was the cause or it would have happened anyway. The remaining pieces of teak; the taffrail, companionway trims and hatch boards continue to hold up well. The cabin top cap rails have some small areas of separation on the underside but that's routine and due to the fact that they were not removed and stripped prior to Cetol application. Because of that, they're not completely encapsulated. That is, the Cetol doesn't continue under the teak leaving a small gap where the cap rail meets the fiberglass. As for the handrails, I removed them, stripped them using a heat gun and painters knife, finish sanded them, removed surface oils with acetone and am now applying several coats of Cetol which will be followed by several coats of Cetol Gloss. With the handrails removed, the Cetol will fully encapsulate the teak. My concern now is the color difference between the handrails and the cap rails. Will it irritate me enough to strip the cap rails and re-apply Cetol? I really don't want to remove the cap rails. They're fastened from above with plugs. Adds another level of work. Stripping them and running a bead of sealant down the teak/fiberglass interface is a compromise solution that will last for years. -- Dennis C. Touche' 35-1 #83 Mandeville, LA
