Thank you all for the responses and recommendations. For better or worse I've decided to go with Sikkens Cetol Natural Teak followed by Sikkens Cetol Gloss; probably five coats of the former and three coats of the latter initially. Factors in my decision included recommendations from this list, expected look, reported durability, price (my second choice, Awlwood MA, is a comparatively expensive system), and effort to use properly. This season I will also clean up other exterior teak besides the new handrails, and treat it with the same Cetol treatment after cleaning.
I did look at the Jamestown Distributors survey results ( https://www.jamestowndistributors.com/userportal/surveyMap.do?surveyId=102 ) and there was a recent positive response from a Sikkens user in my area (an arid, high-altitude, UV-intense environment). I also read this West Advisor article on wood finishes: https://www.westmarine.com/WestAdvisor/Wood-Finishes, and read Don Casey's chapter on wood finishes, which is intensive on varnishing and makes only passing mention of "synthetic wood finishes" e.g. Cetol. The truth is that anything will look better than the old handrails, which were doubtless original (45 years old) and not well-maintained and breaking apart. The main question is how will the finish on the new handrails look, how long will it last, and how much effort will it take including regular maintenance. I put some pictures of Grenadine's new handrails at https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B-NqAxQ6JxFTc093OExfMGRBX1E (the last two pictures in that folder). These were made by Jerrod Milton on my crew who is a very skilled woodworker and who has a very complete wood shop in his garage. I found an 11'x6"x1" teak plank for $200 at a local specialty wood store, and was able to non-destructively remove the old starboard handrail (pictured) to use as template. Jerrod ripped the plank in two lengthwise, stacked the two halves and pinned them together with small dowels where the cutouts would be, traced the pattern onto the stack from the old handrail template, cut two symmetric rails from the stacked half-planks at once on a band saw, then routed the edges on a router table and sanded the rails with a spindle sander. The new handrails will be nice and beefy, and we'll install them after finishing with stout screws pulled tight and butyl tape under the bases. Thanks again everyone. Cheers, Randy Stafford S/V Grenadine C&C30-1 #7 Ken Caryl, CO ----- Original Message ----- From: "Joel Aronson via CnC-List" <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> To: "cnc-list" <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> Cc: "Joel Aronson" <joel.aron...@gmail.com> Sent: Wednesday, March 1, 2017 7:12:55 AM Subject: Re: Stus-List Exterior Teak Varnish Recommendation? Jamestown distributors has a varnish survey. Might be worth a look. On The Office I used Cetol Natural Teak and was generally happy with it. On Atlantis I started with Interlux Schooner Gold, but have switched to Epiphanes. I'm using the RapidClear because you can recoat every 5-6 hours without sanding. It takes a couple days to harden, but I'm liking it so far. Joel On Tue, Feb 28, 2017 at 9:27 PM, Danny Haughey via CnC-List < cnc-list@cnc-list.com > wrote: I've done both sickens and epiphanies on two different boats. Other than the time between coats, I dont see the the benefit to sickens. It seemed softer and less deep a finish than the varnish. As far as upkeep, a couple of coats a year on either product seems a wash. I'd go with the varnish myself. Although, I didn't do this on the new handrails on my last boat, I think I might coat new wood with epoxy first then 7 or 8 coats of epiphanies. I did that on the new hatch boards of my last boat and was pleasantly surprised with the results! I made them out of some marine plywood I had left over from a project on a previous boat and I got a lot of compliments on those hatch boards! Lol Danny Sent from my T-Mobile 4G LTE Device -------- Original message -------- From: RANDY via CnC-List < cnc-list@cnc-list.com > Date: 2/28/17 2:53 PM (GMT-05:00) To: cnc-list < cnc-list@cnc-list.com > Cc: RANDY < randy.staff...@comcast.net > Subject: Stus-List Exterior Teak Varnish Recommendation? Listers- Grenadine's new exterior handrails are ready for finish and installation. Wanted to see if any of you have a preferred varnish for exterior teak. I'm looking for a clear varnish with UV protection. Cheers, Randy _______________________________________________ This list is supported by the generous donations of our members. If you wish to make a contribution to offset our costs, please go to: https://www.paypal.me/stumurray All Contributions are greatly appreciated! -- Joel 301 541 8551 _______________________________________________ This list is supported by the generous donations of our members. If you wish to make a contribution to offset our costs, please go to: https://www.paypal.me/stumurray All Contributions are greatly appreciated!
_______________________________________________ This list is supported by the generous donations of our members. If you wish to make a contribution to offset our costs, please go to: https://www.paypal.me/stumurray All Contributions are greatly appreciated!
