Teak Swim Platform Refurbish - 98 SN

I need to refinish my teak swim platform. Any suggestions on 1) process, and 2) stain to use?

Thanks.

Suggestions from my experience.

If the condition is just faded and molded then you can sand it all down as one intack piece. Obviosly remove it from the back of the boat. A random orbital works well for sanding -- start with the least aggresive grit and work towards the most aggressive needed to clean it up and then work your way back down to make it smooth as a babies behind. You will need to hand sand the tight spots.

If the condition is worse, then you may have to disassemble the individul teak pieces. Not sure what boat platform you have, but this was pretty easy on my 78 SN.     

After it is all sanded (and reassembled) then the only thing you should use on it it Teak Oil (someone else will probably have a brand fav -- I can't remember what brand I used). It will most likely take many coats and it will take a long time to dry/ soak in properly between coats.

I had the best results by applying a few heavy coats (apply with rag and brush in the tight spots, careful not to leave any stroke marks), then doing a light sanding with 220 to 440 grit when those coats were completly hard, and then applying a few more light coats. In the end I think I put on 8-10 coats. Night and day difference in before and after.

Oh yeah, make sure to do the gunrail steps at the same time -- if you have the teak ones.

If you do a have to sand I would lightly hand sand. behindpropeller has a good point (no pun intended) in that you could take off too much material and end up with screw points scratching that expensive ski/board ouch! If its not in too bad of shape try a teak cleaner/restorer such as starbrite.

behindpropeller wrote: DO NOT SAND IT DOWN!! If you sand it down there is a good chance you will soon have screw points sticking through in the near future.

Mine was in really bad shap and I sanded down. What a big mistake. Now bolts are sticking and I don't like how it looks. I grind them a little bit but I think I would have to replace them eventually. On the good side it looks great

Before:


After, you can see the bolts:

You can get three step kits at just about any marine retailer. The first step cleans the teak. It's actually more like mild stripper. Second step brightens it and the last step is the oil application. You follow the directions. You might have a do a few applications of the cleaner and maybe touch a few areas with a scotchbrite pad or maybe a bronze wool or bronze brush but you should never have to sand it or take it apart. Just follow the directions of whatever kit you get and you'll be fine as long as you have a little patience.

When I got my boat the deck was in real bad shape. I used 60 open cut sandpaper on a finishing sander, I had read that you don't want to go down to highr grits because of the way that teak releases oils that will just clog up the grain, the idea is to leave the grain open. So, after sanding, I cleaned the grain with a weak solution of laundry detergent and TSP using a stiff brush to scrub it with the grain. Then rinsed it very well. After it was real clean I let it dry in the sun and then overnight. After it was completely dry, I applied Starbrite teak oil until it wouldn't hold any more. Now I just keep the oil applied occasionally and it looks great!

Another point that might be of interest ---

I wish I had affixed my platform to the boat or a work bench when allowing the coats of new teak oil to dry.

I found that the platform twisted a small bit out of square when the new oil/ moisture was being applied and soaking in.

I felt that if I had secured it, it would have stayed square/ level.

Just my experience and as I said my platform was really bad and required sanding and taking apart to properly refinish it. Teak is an oil/resin rich wood, but I have found it will soak up oil no matter how fine you sand it so long as you clean it well betwwen sandings (vacuum and tack cloth)

2 or 3 times with amazon cleaner and a med. brush.    4 or 5 coats of amazon teak oil after wood is completely dry... all you'll need for a long, long, time.....

Absolutely do not sand it down, you'll never be able to replace the material you're removing. Pull the screws out and hit them on a bench grinder to remove the tips. There are pilot holes in the wood already and plenty of thread for bite.