Teak flooring

If you're in the business of maintaining boats teak is part of the job, and it's not a lot of work. Starbrite has a good, mild teak cleaner (if needed). Tip Top teak oil has a nice golden look.

If there is raised grain, a light sanding will make it look new.
Other wise, use Sudsy Ammonia (cleaner) and Teak Part 2 (brightener)

Teak Maintenance

Don't forget to wash across the grain and don't use power wash.

Judy

Here's my home made two part teak cleaner recipe if the teak needs a good deep cleaning to start with.

Just mix 1 cup TSP (trisodium phosphate, available at most hardware stores in white powder form) and 1-3 cups ammonia with 3-4 gallons of fresh water. That is your #1.
Wet the teak and scrub across the grain using a Doodle Bug pad with the #1. Keep teak and surrounding areas wet but do NOT wash off #1.


Mix 2-3 cups muratic acid with 3-4 gallons fresh water. That is your #2.
Spread the #2 on to the teak and lightly scrub with a soft brush head. Again trying to scrub across the grain as much as possible. The teak will go blond as the acid reacts to the #1.

Be sure to get the #2 on all the teak that has been scrubbed with the #1.
After you have lightly scrubbed down all the teak with the #2 rinse everything off very, very well.

Since you mix this yourself you can delute it down to any strength you wish and it costs
about one tenth or less of the permixed kits.

It should go without saying that you should use hand, eye and body protection when using this
or any other harsh cleaner.

And it should not be used to clean the teak on a regular basis.

For everyday cleaning I like Oxalic acid crystals. Otherwise known as wood bleach.

If the grain and/or seams are raised up, then it is time to sand.

And IMHO, oiling decks just ends up being a PITA and makes more maintenance headaches in the long run. I like just keeping them clean and natural.

a) How big is your boat?
b) With all that work, no wonder you find it a PITA.
c) With all the commercially available and tested stuff on the market why play chemist?
d) Whenever I hear 'sand' I'm reminded of a neighbor (who I didn't like) that I watched power sand his teak; then oil it. It looked beautiful until the first rain storm when all the oil just washed off with no grain to hold it. I'd been taught to only use bronze wool.

a) 90 feet with no teak. Yet.
b) No more work than using a store bought two part cleaner. And I don't know anybody who doesn't think keeping a teak deck oiled isn't a PITA. That might be why you rarely see one.
c) To save money.
d) Good luck sanding down a worn teak deck with raised caulking with bronze wool.

Little or no extra work. You just mix and then scrub, like any two part cleaner. And making your own cleaner saves you and/or the boss some money. And the products you use to make the cleaner can be used for other things. Besides, many marine cleaners are just repackaged and way over priced house hold or institutional products.

Oil shouldn't need any grain to hold it to the teak. It should soak into the wood not sit on it.

And the smoother the wood the easier it is to keep clean. IMO, oil just attracts dirt and turns moldy looking.

Fortunately, I don't deal with teak too often. The main boat I've been working has only the cockpit and swim platform so excuse my ignorance in this. What I'd learned (from the old dudes when I was a young dude) was that oil soaks into the pores in the wood. If you sand it smooth there are no pores to absorb the oil. The idea of sanding with bronze or brass wool is to clean the pores without taking any but the lose wood grain.

Count yourself lucky. I managed a charter fleet of up to 12 or so Grand Banks for 15 years. All of which had teak decks and lots of teak rails and trim. Then I bought one. Glutton for punishment I guess.

This is a recipe from a yachting Emeril!
Savor it, copy it, use it!
Thanks Capt.Bill

That explains the receipe.

You're welcome. And pass it on.

The original poster didn't specify so we are all assuming that this is exterior teak, not cabin sole.

Either way maybe you could post some pics and we could give better advice; otherwise it might just be cheaper/ easier to sub it out. While the contractor does his job watch and learn.

Here goes first post. Something I can actually chime in on. College summer job, "teaking" and maintaining wood and brass on this ol' B****.

http://www.boatnerd.com/pictures/tug/images/helene8-17-01mn-pg.jpg

Welcome HMI. Beautiful old girl there. Who is she? Lots of varnished wood. Did you get any experience redoing that?

Thats the "Helene". Berthed in Lake St. Clair, MI. Owned then by old Detroit money. The decks were all teak. Two of us were the "knob polishers". We would start off aft and work our way forward. One to port, one to SB. "Teak" the decks, polish the lacquer and metal. At night she would charter parties. Next AM we were at it again. All summer. Oh and to answer your question. Nope no re-varnishing on that one. Except the decks. We constantly were re-teaking the decks. They supplied the stuff. It was in two parts. A cleaner and a "revitalizer". And we used brass brushes for that if I remember correctly.

Old girl; old school.

That's the brass wool I referred to in post #8, and with all that teaking no personal receipe
When my father in law was in the Navy he was charged with polishing the brass. Figuring his time could be better spent he painted it gray.

we thoroughly enjoy the new products at West Marine Ft.Lauderdale called Yacht*****. The Teak Cleaner worked great w/o acids and left our teak decks a natural light blonde color. We then applied the Yacht***** Teak Preserver. This product has no oils. It is water-based and penetrates into the teak. The decks are beautiful still after several months in Florida/Caribbean. Great Stuff!!

That's great to hear. I'd not been satisfied with West Marine's Teak Oil and the good stuff like Tip Top is getting hard to find.