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Dave Beauchesne
02-22-2010, 1:22 PM
Greetings:

I usually hang around the Neanderthal Forum, but have a query regarding a friends teak railing on his Shamrock power boat.

The teak railing runs along each side, and parallels the stern in a bit of an arc; the curved pieces are butt jointed about a 1/4 inch after they make the corner to go up both the port and starboard sides.

The railing was black, so he removed it ( in one piece ) and dried it out in his house for a couple of months - while moving it into the shop, the wooden dowels on the butt joints on one side broke - they were rotten and the wood species is not distinguishable.

The rail is about 2 1/4'' wide by an inch thick.

He wants to scrape and sand it, drill out the rotten dowels, replace them, and can fabricate a stainless plate to set into a chiselled recess inder the butt joint to strenghthen it. He plans to use Sikkens Light as a finish.

Questions:

1) Moisture content of the wood - I don't have a moisture meter, but can you give me pointers as to MC % before refinishing - I am guessing 8 - 10 %, but - - -

2) We can spin new teak dowels easily to repair the butt joint - is something else better? Teak plugs are a given where necessary.

3) Glue - he has heard Polyurethane ( Gorilla glue ) - what is the best?

4) Is Sikkens Light a good finish for teak?

5) Should there be an acetone wipe before glue / finish application to get rid of some of the surface oils?

Any info will be helpful - I hope my description was OK!

Thanks;

Dave Beauchesne

Jim Creech
02-23-2010, 2:06 PM
Dave,
1. Do not concern yourself with moisture content. Boats, by nature are subjected to high moisture anyway. This ain't furniture!
2.Teak dowels would be preferred. No rot and should absorb moisture at the same rate as the railing thus minimizing potential swelling and shrinkage problems.
Do not sand!! The black you see is a fungus and can be fairly deep. I use a Teak cleaner and brightener sold by West Marine that does quite well at restoring the natural colour of teak! ( There are others on the market that I am certain will perform equally as well). Much less work and no wood removal! Sand only as necessary to smooth things up.
3. My choice for glue would be epoxy however I did use Gorilla Glue last year on a split cockpit coaming on my Bristol and it has performed as advertised so far. (My boat stays in the water year around subjected to the elements).
4. I also use Sikkens light on my boat and am quite happy with it. Not as pretty as traditional varnish but much easier to care for and touch up.
5 An acetone washdown of the faying surfaces prior yo gluing is a good idea as teak is a naturally oily wood.
Hope this helps.
Jim

Dave Beauchesne
02-24-2010, 1:08 PM
Jim:

Thanks a million for the info - I will pass this on !

Dave Beauchesne

Jason Davis
02-24-2010, 7:34 PM
I agree with Jim on cleaning the teak with a teak cleaner. It is amazing how it comes out.

For a finish, consider the teak oil. I am not sure if it is better than a sikkens coating, but something else to consider......

Dave Beauchesne
02-24-2010, 9:15 PM
Duly noted Jason - thanks again !

Chris Hackett
02-26-2010, 4:46 PM
Just looking around and found this recent thread. When working with teak when building my boat 25 or so years ago, I tried wiping the teak with solvent and found it didn't do the job. Preferably use a non-flammible solvent and load it in a spray gun. Spray the joint area until the solvent flows off clear - the initial off flow will be dark to medium brown. I used an epoxy (1:1::Epon 828:Curing Agent V40) applied immediately after the solvent had evaporated and the wood was dry - about 20 minutes. You should load any adhesive intended for exposure to sunlight with about 1% (not critical) carbon black (or a whole lot of white titanium dioxide) to protect it from UV degradation.

She was never under cover so saw sunlight, rain, snow, whatever, for 365 days a year. We sailed her for 20+ years on the Chesapeake and the boat is now with a new owner up in Maine. Last summer I sailed on her as crew from Provincetown, MA to Situate Light and the teak and epoxy looks just as good as the day I built her.