I have teak on the top of my gunnels around the cockpit. I started the stripping (sanding) A fellow boater came by and told me he uses polyurathane ? From what I have read, after sanding the wood should be sealed then 5 coats of varnish.My question,has anyone ever tried this ? I did take a walk over to his boat,the wood looked good. But he had just put on the third coat.
Varnishing teak
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Capt. Bill1
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Varnish will adhere just fine. What do you think is on all those Grand Banks with nice glossy rails and trim? 
Many of the new "varnishes" are poly based.
With varnish. to have a really top notch long lasting and good looking job, you are looking at 10 - 12 coats. You have to remember, the first couple of times you sand to get a nice flat surface, you are sanding off most of the varnish you have applied. And each time you sand there after you are sanding off some as well.
If you want the true varnish look while having one of the longest lasting finishes, I'd look at using CPES as your sealer followed by Bristol as your top coats.
Longest lasting and easiest to apply is probably Cetol.
Many of the new "varnishes" are poly based.
With varnish. to have a really top notch long lasting and good looking job, you are looking at 10 - 12 coats. You have to remember, the first couple of times you sand to get a nice flat surface, you are sanding off most of the varnish you have applied. And each time you sand there after you are sanding off some as well.
If you want the true varnish look while having one of the longest lasting finishes, I'd look at using CPES as your sealer followed by Bristol as your top coats.
Longest lasting and easiest to apply is probably Cetol.
I've done a lot of varnishing but never on teak. I know that Pettit says their varnish will work on it but you need to remove surface oils with the solvent that is appropriate for the varnish blend. Always read and follow manufacturer's recommendations as these usually vary with each product. Here are some examples:
Z-Spar Flagship Varnish:
Bare Teak* (or other woods with high oil content)
1. Sand the wood smooth with 120 grit production paper to open up the grain. Wipe the surface
thoroughly with Pettit 120/T10 Brushing Thinner in an effort to aggressively remove as much oil
as possible.
2. Apply a generous coat of Pettit 2018 Clear Sealer. After an overnight dry, lightly sand the
surface with 220 grit sandpaper and wipe it clean with a rag dampened with Pettit 120/T10
Brushing Thinner.
3. Apply at least four coats of Z*Spar 2015 Flagship Varnish. Let each coat dry overnight, sand
with 220 grit sandpaper, and clean off sanding residue with a tack rag before applying the next
coat. Sand the next to last coat with 400 grit production paper prior to applying the final coat.
*It should be noted that woods with a high oil content may eventually experience adhesion problems
as there is no way to totally eliminate the oil and prevent it from migrating to the surface.
However, this application technique has proven successful in most circumstances.
Pettit Easypoxy Hi-Build Varnish:
Bare Teak* (or other woods with high oil content)
1. Sand the wood smooth with 120 grit production paper to open up the grain. Wipe the surface
thoroughly with Pettit 121 Spraying Thinner in an effort to aggressively remove as much oil as
possible.
2. Apply a generous coat of Pettit 2012 Super Dry Sealer. After a two to four hour dry, lightly
sand the surface with 220 grit sandpaper and wipe it clean with a rag dampened with Pettit
120 Brushing Thinner.
3. Apply at least five coats of Pettit 2056 Easypoxy Hi-Build Varnish. Let each coat dry overnight,
sand with 220 grit sandpaper, and clean off sanding residue with a tack rag before applying
the next coat.
*It should be noted that woods with a high oil content may eventually experience adhesion problems
as there is no way to totally eliminate the oil and prevent it from migrating to the surface.
However, this application technique has proven successful in most circumstances.
I know quite a few wooden boat owners that like Bristol Finish for it's varnish-like look and longer time between recoats. I keep the boat in a covered slip so I use a traditional Pettit varnish.
The choice between traditional varnishes and the sythetics like Cetol or Bristol Finish involve trade-offs in appearance and function. I don't think any of the synthetics look as good as varnish including Bristol Finish which has a "plasticy" gloss that looks more like automove clear coat than varnish to me. On the function side of the argument, synthetics can hold up against UV from the sun much better than varnish and can go a lot longer between recoats. Another factor in the function of bright finishes is flexibility of the cured product. Polyurethane is the hardest and least flexible of the resins in use. It's best for use on high traffic surfaces but is more likely to crack along joins than the most flexible phenolic resin varnishes or the medium flexibility alkyd resin varnishes.
Varnish brand names can be confusing. The two examples I gave above are Z-Spar Flagship and Pettit Easypoxy Hi-Build. Which do you think is the more traditional varnish?
Flagship blends phenolic with alkyd (polyester) resin. The Easypoxy Hi-Build has nothing to with epoxy. It's an excellent 100% phenolic resin varnish like traditional varnishes that go back to the early twentieth century.
Before phenolic resin came around spar varnishes used pine tar resins that were very short-lived in the marine environment.
Z-Spar Flagship Varnish:
Bare Teak* (or other woods with high oil content)
1. Sand the wood smooth with 120 grit production paper to open up the grain. Wipe the surface
thoroughly with Pettit 120/T10 Brushing Thinner in an effort to aggressively remove as much oil
as possible.
2. Apply a generous coat of Pettit 2018 Clear Sealer. After an overnight dry, lightly sand the
surface with 220 grit sandpaper and wipe it clean with a rag dampened with Pettit 120/T10
Brushing Thinner.
3. Apply at least four coats of Z*Spar 2015 Flagship Varnish. Let each coat dry overnight, sand
with 220 grit sandpaper, and clean off sanding residue with a tack rag before applying the next
coat. Sand the next to last coat with 400 grit production paper prior to applying the final coat.
*It should be noted that woods with a high oil content may eventually experience adhesion problems
as there is no way to totally eliminate the oil and prevent it from migrating to the surface.
However, this application technique has proven successful in most circumstances.
Pettit Easypoxy Hi-Build Varnish:
Bare Teak* (or other woods with high oil content)
1. Sand the wood smooth with 120 grit production paper to open up the grain. Wipe the surface
thoroughly with Pettit 121 Spraying Thinner in an effort to aggressively remove as much oil as
possible.
2. Apply a generous coat of Pettit 2012 Super Dry Sealer. After a two to four hour dry, lightly
sand the surface with 220 grit sandpaper and wipe it clean with a rag dampened with Pettit
120 Brushing Thinner.
3. Apply at least five coats of Pettit 2056 Easypoxy Hi-Build Varnish. Let each coat dry overnight,
sand with 220 grit sandpaper, and clean off sanding residue with a tack rag before applying
the next coat.
*It should be noted that woods with a high oil content may eventually experience adhesion problems
as there is no way to totally eliminate the oil and prevent it from migrating to the surface.
However, this application technique has proven successful in most circumstances.
I know quite a few wooden boat owners that like Bristol Finish for it's varnish-like look and longer time between recoats. I keep the boat in a covered slip so I use a traditional Pettit varnish.
The choice between traditional varnishes and the sythetics like Cetol or Bristol Finish involve trade-offs in appearance and function. I don't think any of the synthetics look as good as varnish including Bristol Finish which has a "plasticy" gloss that looks more like automove clear coat than varnish to me. On the function side of the argument, synthetics can hold up against UV from the sun much better than varnish and can go a lot longer between recoats. Another factor in the function of bright finishes is flexibility of the cured product. Polyurethane is the hardest and least flexible of the resins in use. It's best for use on high traffic surfaces but is more likely to crack along joins than the most flexible phenolic resin varnishes or the medium flexibility alkyd resin varnishes.
Varnish brand names can be confusing. The two examples I gave above are Z-Spar Flagship and Pettit Easypoxy Hi-Build. Which do you think is the more traditional varnish?
Flagship blends phenolic with alkyd (polyester) resin. The Easypoxy Hi-Build has nothing to with epoxy. It's an excellent 100% phenolic resin varnish like traditional varnishes that go back to the early twentieth century.
Before phenolic resin came around spar varnishes used pine tar resins that were very short-lived in the marine environment.
I think this is one myth that just won't ever die.
For those who think that varnish is incompatible with oils or oily wood, try this on for size. Based on a recomendation from a well known teak finisher, I use sanded in TEAK OIL as my sealer coat. If you think that wood is oily by itself, you should see it when I get it ready for varnish!
The only real difference between varnish and other systems such as cetol is the number of coats that you need to apply. For varnish you need a minimum of 7-8 and around 10 when accounting for grain leveling to get a shiny surface (something most cetol applications often don't care about). If you don't get the number of coats on, it will lift when the moisture levels go up. Just like any other product, once it starts to lift or crack, its done. You CAN fix edges that start to lift out of cycle if you keep on them (just like any other product), but once the bulk of the surfact lifts, your done.
Why Varnish? Because nothing, and I mean NOTHING beats the deep shine of a well varnished surface. But you have to get the coats onto it, or don't even try. The closest thing to a shortcut with varnish would be a product such as Epifanes woodfinish gloss. It can be topcoated without sanding, but only if you hit it within a relatively short period of time, maybe a day or two, but not longer.
Keep in mind that the properies of teak are variable and teak itself has changed over the years. There is old growth teak, watered teak and plantation teak. Old growth teak comes from the far east but there have been plantations for many years in Columbia. There is a lot a disagreement about which teak is best for marine trim or decking. Basically, the only sure way to determine if teak will take a hard finish is to try it first but a hard finish should work in most cases.
marykhubby
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Bristol worked for me. Looks better than new
Capt. Bill1
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OK, if you are going to go with varnish take your time and do it right. It's all in the prep.
The smoother the surface of the wood and the smoother the last coats of varnish, the better the job looks and the longer it lasts.
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Great info in the above post's
Sounds like you will be doing the work in the slip.
One thing to keep in mind is the drying time between coats.
It is very frustrating to have that last coat be just perfect and a
bug or dirt get on it at the last minute.
Been there
Abouttime
Sounds like you will be doing the work in the slip.
One thing to keep in mind is the drying time between coats.
It is very frustrating to have that last coat be just perfect and a
bug or dirt get on it at the last minute.
Been there
Abouttime
Capt. Bill1
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When that happens, you just have to say to yourself, "with varnish, there is no such thing as the last coat."
No no, what's frustrating is that no matter how many times you said that you would never again try to fix issues until after it dried, you try to stick your finger in, get the bug out and then create an even bigger mess trying to topcoat half tacky varnish, all the while realizing the biggest problem was not the bug at all.
During warm summer weather I used to try to get a second coat in during the evening. There must have been a fresh hatch out the last time I tried it. The setting sun gave the fresh varnish a nice reddish glow and the bugs hit it like kamikazes.
I was pretty lucky and most of them stuck by their feet or wings and just brushed off the next morning.
I was pretty lucky and most of them stuck by their feet or wings and just brushed off the next morning.