Just another viewpoint here. Teak is used on boats because of its oily and rot-resistant characteristics. And it looks nice, both oiled and finished bright. There is cost to using teak; both monetary and environmental. It strikes me that if you are going keep the wood sealed with a hard finish, you don't need teak! You can use any wood, and there are many that are more attractive, environmentally friendly and less costly than teak.
Also, teak has a very uneven raised grain. Sanding it smooth enough for a hard finish would remove material and weaken it structurally. The forward rail, starboard side, on my boat is particularly deeply grooved and would be very difficult to sand smooth. I spend less than an hour per year cleaning and oiling the teak on my M15, primarily for preservation, secondarily for appearance. Over the years that may add up to more time that I would spend masking, sanding and painting a hard finish. But I doubt it. I have too little time available for both sailing and working on the boat and sailing takes precedence. And I like using teak's natural properties for their intended purpose. Bill Riker M15 - #184 Storm Petrel -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Seawitch Sent: Friday, June 25, 2004 9:22 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: M_Boats: REply to Larry re: finishing the hatch boards Hi, I just completed finishing all the teak on my M15 with a product I found on the Practical Sailor Mag. comparison of teak finishing products last year. This product came in 1st after 6 months of weathering. It is Bristol finish and information about it can be obtained at their website, Bristolfinish.com. The product is very easy to use, doesn't require a lot of between coat sanding if you can do all four coats within a short period of time. Needs like 2 hours between coats and only requires light sanding if more than 24 hours go between coats. It is also advertised to not require any maintenance for 4 years and then only light sanding and an additional coat. The finish is beautiful, you have a choice of high gloss or matte. The thing to remember when doing both sides of the hatch covers is that it does change the fit of the slides. Even a very little increase makes them quite tight. Oh, you can't buy this everywhere, I had to mail order it. When I initially got the boat, last year, I thought I would just oil the teak and it would look good. After a year, I found that it needed to be redone too often, and was a bit labor intensive and did not really look as nice as I wanted. So, I decided to go the route I now have. Time for a cool change! Sandra(Seawitch #617) _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats
