Restoring Teak. Restoring Gel Coat. Repairing Damage to Gel Coat Finish

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Author Topic:   Restoring Teak. Restoring Gel Coat. Repairing Damage to Gel Coat Finish

ttrain3 posted 12-17-2009 01:04 PM ET (US)
What is the best way to restore the teak and the gelcoat back to looking good. Some gel coat is chipped away and missing?
lizard posted 12-17-2009 10:18 PM ET (US)
You will get many opinions about your teak. They fall into two camps: marine varnish or teak oil. I elected for teak oil on all of mine and it does require maintenance, even if covered and stored well.
My current Whaler had varnish done by the prior owner, a sloppy job that I am going to regret having to strip and refinish.
In terms of the gel coat, Spectrum gel coats will have color matched gel coat for your boat. Remember though, your gel coat has a lot of age and my best attempts to get it to match on my Montauk and Outrage, as spot fixes, were visible to me.
jimh posted 12-18-2009 03:07 AM ET (US)
There are many prior articles on the topic of restoring gel coat.There are many prior articles on the topic of restoring teak. Generally they are discussed in separate articles. The technique of restoration is quite similar. I will describe it in general:
--clean the surface of the material you want to restore with a solvent that can remove any dirt or particles on the surface without damaging the surface;
--gently abrade the surface you want to restore to remove the surface layer which is oxidized or discolored;
--remove any uneven surface until you have a smooth, fair, clean surface;
--take care to not remove too much material;
--treat new surface with protective coatings.
The solvents for gel coat are usually soap and water. Sometimes stronger solvents are needed to remove grease and difficult stains. For teak there are special solutions (sold as teak cleaners) that help remove dirt and mildew; they can also brighten dark wood.
Sandpaper used for abrasion. For teak you will use a coarser abrasive than used on gel coat. Gel coat is often wet sanded with ultra, ultra, fine sandpaper. Teak can be machine sanded with medium abrasive sandpaper
The gel coat layer is only about 0.020-inch think, so a very fine abrasive is used, and great care must be taken to not remove too much material. Teak is usually much thicker, typically 0.5-inch or more, and more material can be removed to reach a new, fresh, smooth, clean surface.
To protect the new surface, apply an appropriate layer of protective material. Color restorers, polishes, and wax are used for gel coat surfaces. Oils or varnishes are used for teak.
These are only general suggestions. In the archives you will find hundreds of articles on this topic. Generally you will find that restoration of teak is discussed separately from restoration of gel coat. Therefore I am closing this thread so that you can bifurcate the discussion, and search for more information.
To help you start, try this article for wood restoration:
http://continuouswave.com/whaler/reference/whalerWood.html
Good advice on products to use is contained in
http://continuouswave.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/007743.html
Restoration of gel coat surface is described in
http://continuouswave.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/001797.html
http://continuouswave.com/ubb/Forum8/HTML/001482.html
http://continuouswave.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/000680.html
http://continuouswave.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/008656.html
There are many prior articles on repairing and patching gel coat surfaces. The technique of minor repairs to the hull surface is described in
http://continuouswave.com/whaler/reference/whalerRepair.html
http://continuouswave.com/whaler/reference/repairInstructions.html
Please read all of these articles. If you have follow-up questions, separate the questions into the three topic areas--wood restoration, gel coat repair, gel coat restoration--and begin a new thread for each topic area.
[Thread closed as discussion of these three vast areas of repairs is too broad. Each of these topics has already been discussed at length in many prior discussions. It seems senseless to review all of that prior material here and make judgements about it.]

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Author	Topic: Restoring Teak. Restoring Gel Coat. Repairing Damage to Gel Coat Finish
ttrain3	posted 12-17-2009 01:04 PM ET (US) What is the best way to restore the teak and the gelcoat back to looking good. Some gel coat is chipped away and missing?
lizard	posted 12-17-2009 10:18 PM ET (US) You will get many opinions about your teak. They fall into two camps: marine varnish or teak oil. I elected for teak oil on all of mine and it does require maintenance, even if covered and stored well. My current Whaler had varnish done by the prior owner, a sloppy job that I am going to regret having to strip and refinish. In terms of the gel coat, Spectrum gel coats will have color matched gel coat for your boat. Remember though, your gel coat has a lot of age and my best attempts to get it to match on my Montauk and Outrage, as spot fixes, were visible to me.
jimh	posted 12-18-2009 03:07 AM ET (US) There are many prior articles on the topic of restoring gel coat.There are many prior articles on the topic of restoring teak. Generally they are discussed in separate articles. The technique of restoration is quite similar. I will describe it in general: --clean the surface of the material you want to restore with a solvent that can remove any dirt or particles on the surface without damaging the surface; --gently abrade the surface you want to restore to remove the surface layer which is oxidized or discolored; --remove any uneven surface until you have a smooth, fair, clean surface; --take care to not remove too much material; --treat new surface with protective coatings. The solvents for gel coat are usually soap and water. Sometimes stronger solvents are needed to remove grease and difficult stains. For teak there are special solutions (sold as teak cleaners) that help remove dirt and mildew; they can also brighten dark wood. Sandpaper used for abrasion. For teak you will use a coarser abrasive than used on gel coat. Gel coat is often wet sanded with ultra, ultra, fine sandpaper. Teak can be machine sanded with medium abrasive sandpaper The gel coat layer is only about 0.020-inch think, so a very fine abrasive is used, and great care must be taken to not remove too much material. Teak is usually much thicker, typically 0.5-inch or more, and more material can be removed to reach a new, fresh, smooth, clean surface. To protect the new surface, apply an appropriate layer of protective material. Color restorers, polishes, and wax are used for gel coat surfaces. Oils or varnishes are used for teak. These are only general suggestions. In the archives you will find hundreds of articles on this topic. Generally you will find that restoration of teak is discussed separately from restoration of gel coat. Therefore I am closing this thread so that you can bifurcate the discussion, and search for more information. To help you start, try this article for wood restoration: http://continuouswave.com/whaler/reference/whalerWood.html Good advice on products to use is contained in http://continuouswave.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/007743.html Restoration of gel coat surface is described in http://continuouswave.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/001797.html http://continuouswave.com/ubb/Forum8/HTML/001482.html http://continuouswave.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/000680.html http://continuouswave.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/008656.html There are many prior articles on repairing and patching gel coat surfaces. The technique of minor repairs to the hull surface is described in http://continuouswave.com/whaler/reference/whalerRepair.html http://continuouswave.com/whaler/reference/repairInstructions.html Please read all of these articles. If you have follow-up questions, separate the questions into the three topic areas--wood restoration, gel coat repair, gel coat restoration--and begin a new thread for each topic area. [Thread closed as discussion of these three vast areas of repairs is too broad. Each of these topics has already been discussed at length in many prior discussions. It seems senseless to review all of that prior material here and make judgements about it.]