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Teak Gunwale Refinishing the Easy Way
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ContinuousWave Whaler Moderated Discussion Areas
ContinuousWave: Whaler Repairs/Mods
Teak Gunwale Refinishing the Easy Way
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| Author | Topic: Teak Gunwale Refinishing the Easy Way |
| whalersman |
posted 11-08-2003 07:14 PM ET (US)  
Well, the end of the boating season has arrived so I started thinking about refinishing some of my Teak.. The Gunwales were about the worst of all the Teak on the boat. They were very dark grey, dirty, and the grain was raised so high, they looked like craters.. I had heard of someone hear removing the gunwales completely and then running them through a planer. Well, this seemed like a lot of extra work so I wanted to try something easier.. I first tried just using Starbrite Teak Cleaner and Brightener without any success. They still looked like grey and had the raised grain.. So, sanding seemed to be the only way.. I removed the hardware like the Marinium Hawespipe, Flush Mount Rod Holder, etc.... The one thing I did not remove was the long stainless steel cap on top of the gunwale edge. I started sanding with 60 Grit sandpaper using a Palm sander. This did a great job of removing the raised grain. I then went down to 100 grit, and then finsished with 150 grit. The job was really a lot easier then I imagined. It inspired me to do the rest of the Teak on the boat. If you are interested in seeing the outcome of the Teak Gunwales, go here: www.sisqtel.net/~jkriz/Gunwales/ Any comments or suggestions welcomed...... I can't wait to roll the boat out of the garage next spring.... jimh.. If this is something that might be usefull in Cetacea, please let me know. If not, no problem.... |
| lhg |
posted 11-08-2003 07:48 PM ET (US)
Excellent job, Joe. The boat looks beautiful. I see you have Montauk side rails on it! I have done exactly the same process on both of my Outrages several times. I even took off the top SS trim strip. And I also found I had to begin with #60 or #80 grit on the orbital sander to cut through the raised grain. I just finished the same process on my 18 gunwales this summer, and did the bow pulpit at the same time. It had been five years since I last did it. On my 25, the gunwales have been sanded like this three times, and I finally decided I had to varnish in order to stop the teak degradation all over the boat. You lose thickness quickly. With the salt exposure my 25 gets, the varnish is a much longer lasting solution, and less time consuming in the long run. One step teak cleaner works for a few intermediate cleanings, but sanding is the real answer eventually. Loss of stock is the big problem as the boats age, however. |
| Fishcop |
posted 11-08-2003 09:18 PM ET (US)
Hey Joe, I have a suggestion...You need to refinish my gunwales! Great job. I have used the teak cleaner on the Montauk and Outrage. Does the job, but sanding makes the wood shine. Again, if you need some more practice (it does not appear so), you can always bring your sander with you and we can meet at the GG Bridge. Andy |
| lhg |
posted 11-08-2003 09:41 PM ET (US)
I should say that worst part of this gunwale refinishing job is the total hardware removal and re-installation. The sanding and oiling is the fun, satisfaction part. |
| Tom W Clark |
posted 11-08-2003 11:13 PM ET (US)
Joe, Very nice job! You're reached the same conclusions I've reached over the years regarding teak refinishing. I used to jump into every thread about teak and offer the same advice. I guess I grew tired of repeating that if you want to clean up the teak, you must do so mechanically with sandpaper, scrapers, planes whatever it takes. Chemical teak cleaners are bad and evil in my opinion. They eat out the soft grain and leave the grain raised which requires even more wood removal when the time comes to level then down to bare wood and the raised grain and opened pore structure of the wood captures more dirt and pollution too. When I bought my Outrage 18 in the fall of 1989 the first thing I did after stuffing it in an airplane hanger for the winter to work on it was strip the teak. I removed ALL the hardware, period. This is not a bad chore for me at all as I am used to dealing with hardware and have all the tools necessary. In my case I did remove the stainless steel rub strip from the top of the gunwale as well as all the hardware from the inside surface. I'd say the most tedious was the under gunwale rod hold mounting hardware. But even those were easy enough with a wrench set and cordless drivers. I also removed the Marinium rub rail end cap as well so as not to scratch it. Some tips for those tackling this particular project: Keep track of every piece of hardware you remove. I use small paper or Styrofoam cups or zip-lock sandwich bags to keep screws and small pieces of hardware together. You can label them if you like but if they are kept together it is usually apparent where they go by the context of the other parts with them. I also highly recommend not being afraid to go to the hardware store and buy replacement screws, nuts and washers. Given what we invest in our boats, the added cost is trivial. As an example, when I pulled the long stainless rub stake from the top edge of the gunwale boards, I pitched the little Phillips head sheet metal screws and replaced them all with new ones of identical size. This avoided the occasional mangled screw head and actually made it easier to keep track of everything and I always had enough screws to finish the reinstallation. I would avoid buying stainless hardware from a place like West Marine if a real hardware store were close by. As to the actual sanding of the gunwales boards I went after them with a Makita 3’ x 24” belt sander first. The particular model of sander I use has the ability to walk the belt all the way to the edge of the tool and get right up to an inside edge like where the top surface meets the vertical piece. Hand scrapers get in awkward spots like inside corners and the area at the bottom of the outside bevel where it goes under the rub rail receiver track. I used the belt sander on the inside face as well being very careful to not nick the gel coat at the forward end of the gunwale boards. In the end a little hand sanding will be necessary but a tool I own now that I didn't back then that would make all the teak sanding on a Whaler MUCH easier is my Fein Detail Sander. This tool is amazing! Joe, if you haven’t done the louvers on your teak console access doors yet, go out and buy this tool now! It will save you that much time. (God! I think of all the time I used to hand scrape and sand the louvers on my boats with a putty knife with adhesive backed sand paper applied to it. Never again.) |
| Hoosier |
posted 11-09-2003 07:52 AM ET (US)
I just started reconstructing a 78 Outrage V-22 and found (by accident) that the easiest first step in cleaning the teak was a blast with a 1200 lb pressure washer. It took all the grey and black off the teak and left the wood clean and ready to sand. This boat had been left in storage for five years and outside for at least a year. I couldn't believe it, but I cleaned all the teak in less than an hour. This is definitely not something I'd do every year, but if the wood is really stained grey and black, this works. |
| Tom W Clark |
posted 11-09-2003 01:47 PM ET (US)
Power washers are miraculous tools; very good for some things but dangerous for others. I do not recommend power washing wood unless a raised grain is desired end. A power washer will make quick work of heavy dirt build up on old wood like the teak gunwale boards described by Hoosier above but it will also have some of the same effects as chemical teak cleaners, namely that it will erode the soft grain out at a high rate. What I have done on heavily soiled teak before sanding commenced, is to scrape the wood down with a sharp wood scraper. I have a variety of scrapers I use including an assortment of Sandvik carbide bladed paint scrapers as well as a traditional burnished furniture scraper. This will remove old finishes and heavy dirt build up that would just clog sand paper or abrasive cloth. |
| DaveNJ |
posted 11-10-2003 07:00 AM ET (US)
Joe - Great job. Nice pictures of your boat too. Thanks for sharing your experience with this process. Dave |
| Anthony |
posted 11-10-2003 01:29 PM ET (US)
How big of job is it to remove the gunwhales from an 1986 Outrage 18. I would like to do this so they can go through a planer. They are very rough. Does the heavy duty rub rail have to be removed? |
| Tom W Clark |
posted 11-10-2003 03:31 PM ET (US)
Anthony, I would think it’s a big job and in fact I had formerly thought it couldn't be done in any practical way. However, Forum contributor George Nagy (I think) managed to do this with the teak gunwale boards on his Outrage 18. He first dug out all the bungs, then removed the Marinium end caps from the rub rail ends and peeled back the part that goes across the transom to the transom cut-out. After removing all the screws he reported he was able to slide the boards out the back of the boat. I also seem to recall him telling us that he thought it was not worth the effort when all was said and done. This was a while ago so I could be wrong (it has been known to happen.) |
| Tom W Clark |
posted 11-10-2003 03:38 PM ET (US)
Here is the thread I was thinking of: |
| whalersman |
posted 11-11-2003 06:54 PM ET (US)
Thanks for the response everyone..... lhg, Tom, When I removed my console doors, one was completely loose so it came apart in tack... No broken dowels, etc.... Then I took the frame off and same thing... It was easy at that point to sand all the louvers as it was disassembled..... Too bad we couldn't always disassemble them for sanding.... One reason I didn't take the long SS strip off the top of the gunwale was that I didn't want to get too carried away... If you happen to sand the top piece too thin, then the strip will hang over on one or both sides... Thanks again for the input and responses, |
| Leener |
posted 11-18-2003 08:02 AM ET (US)
Nice job Joe. I did the very same thing to my '89 Outrage this spring. I also took off all of the srews and brackets on the inside verticle teak. One point of clarification... The long stainless cap on the verticle teak can easily be removed. One benefit is that it mkes it easier to apply your finish coat to the teak (and not to the stainless!). Someone was worried about sanding the top edge and, as a result, loosing wood and having the trim hang over on the ends. In my case, the top surface needed no sanding because it has been completely covered by the stainless strip. It just makes applying the finish much easier. You can also apply the protective finish to ALL of the teak. Thx, Leener |
| Tom W Clark |
posted 11-18-2003 11:46 AM ET (US)
Joe, Leener, I took my stainless steel chafe strips off so I would have an easier time of oiling the teak as Leener points out. I did not sand the TOP edge of the vertical board at all, I merely sanded both sides of the board and while doing so I did not have to worry about nicking/scratching the stainless strips. Yes, you loose some thickness of that board and at some point the stainless strip would be two wide to cover it. On my Outrage which I owned for over ten years I too the teak down to bare wood twice. Once when I bought it at six years of age and then again about six years later. I later did another touch up sanding and more oiling but I did not take it down to bare wood at that point. In the end, the vertical teak board was just about equal to the width of the stainless steel strip and I would not have been able to sand it down to bare wood again. I think this is one good reason to consider varnishing as Larry describes above. It would sort of "lock-in" the wood if you were planning on owning the boat long term and you would loose less material over time. |
| lhg |
posted 11-18-2003 01:57 PM ET (US)
Tom - On my 25, you have exactly described the condition of the vertical gunwale stiffener boards. They have been sanded to just slightly less thickness than the SS rub strakes. The successive coats of varnish brought it back to same thickness. Using an orbital sander to smooth out the blackened soft grain recesses can really reduce the stock thickness fast. |
| peetmin |
posted 11-18-2003 02:20 PM ET (US)
Hey Joe, that teak looks pretty good there. I have a question in regard to your swim step. I installed what looks to be the same piece of equipment on my Revenge. 1st-I noticed you mounted the swimplatform below the eye on the transom used to secure the boat to the trailer. Will this pose any problem when it is time to travel? I must admit I mounted mine on the port side and above the eye and when it is in the water I wish the platform was lower to the water line. 2nd question- on your upper support arm (swim platform) did you hit any wood when driving your stainless screw? I didn't and I am reluctant to let any adults use the step as I fear the screw will pull from the fiberglass. It is not possible to reach the back of the glass on my hull. I may have to use some type of stainless "molley" hardware possibley with some type of epoxy in order to secure the support. Your project looks great. It looks like we are going to get real wet here for the next few days 2-3" today I'm guessing. Talk to you soon. Pete |
| whalersman |
posted 11-18-2003 04:17 PM ET (US)
peetmin, The platform was on the boat when I bought it... It does have a very sturdy bracket that bolts to the inner portion of the Transom with four 1/4" bolts... This is a very sturdy bracket.. It isn't like other brackets that I have seen. The outer brace or bracket may not bolt into wood at the bottom, but I believe it does at the top because it is very near the gunwale. I just emailed you a couple of photos.. My trailer tie down fits right between the slats in the platform.. Seems to work just fine... |
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