Teak tock. Decks, exotic woods and looking after them

Teak decks, let´s be honest, nothing says boat or yacht more, on the right boat they look great, adding a rich colour and warmth to the otherwise barren expanse of plastic, but, there are some things you should know about the decks on which you walk.

Teak is a tropical hardwood, it´s distribution widespread, it has excellent hardness, beauty and resistance, making it very suitable for marine use, the majority of the teak came from Myanmar (Burma), although more is being sourced from other areas such as Thailand and India, the sale of this natural product is heavily regulated, making it expensive. I would say it´s the most recycled, reused or repurposed material in a boatyard, even the dust from sanding or sawing is reused to make repairs.

Teak is laid in strips or planks, each one perfectly fitted and sometimes up to half an inch or more thick, it will last the lifetime of the vessel. Another method is to glue strips of teak to a plywood base that forms the pattern to be laid on the deck, these strips are much thinner, the edges are then made is solid wood, it looks almost the same as hand laid but it is faster and less expensive for the boatbuilder to install.

Teak Cleaning

When cleaning teak, the best thing you can do is almost nothing, that sounds bold but I will explain. If left to its own devices the teak will go an ash grey sort of colour, it doesn’t mean its damaged, just the sun has bleached the top layer, underneath it is still fine, during normal boat washing any dust and light dirt will be removed, the teak will then dry and go back to being white.

On boats left for a long time, environmental pollution, exhaust fumes and dirt can blacken the teak, fear not it is easily cleaned, start off by rinsing the loose dirt off with either fresh or salt water, salt water will do no harm at all, I have even been told it is better, no comment either way, but right now we are just getting rid of the easy stuff and if the teak is this colour, chances are the rest of the boat will be dirty too.

Use a soft brush, not a garden broom or household one, some soapy water and a hose, soak the teak and start scrubbing gently, we are not sanding it, just agitating dirt, do not use anything else at this point, clean the whole area and then rinse, repeat if necessary, you will see the water coming from the teak is black, leave to dry and assess again. A little cheat, you can use bicarbonate of soda to help agitate the dirt, add it to water in a bucket or sprinkle straight onto the deck for stubborn stains and dirt.

Colour restoration

If you are happy with just the above, then hey presto, job done. It is likely, unless things were really bad that just cleaning and scrubbing will restore some colour. If you insist on that original golden colour then you will need a teak brightener, these products as their name implies will really make the teak a golden colour again, be aware that constant colour restoration is not good, regular mild cleaning is better, remember teak is natural and will go white again over time of its own accord.

Salted

There is a teak salt available, you throw it around like sumo wrestlers before a match onto wet teak and then scrub and rinse, there is no doubt it is effective, especially in removing environmental pollutants and greasy stains from decks, it does creates a lot of mess and must be rinsed really really well, think on this if your water is metered, but the final result is well worth it.

Under pressure

Do not use pressure washers for cleaning teak, especially decks, no matter how careful the operator is, the damage done by the jets of water includes:

• Leaving marks o the teak where the jets passed over the decks.

• Raising the grain in the wood, leaving it quite unsightly.

• Blasting out the caulking in between the boards.

• Forcing water into the screw holes and blowing the teak screw caps off.

Teak oil and saturators

How far you go on oiling your boats wooden parts is up to you, but some pointers can save you a lot of effort, money and time. Teak oil is not really teak oil, it is a mixture of tung and linseed oils, it is used to beautify and restore colour, also can help with very dry wood. Saturators as their name implies saturate the wood, they restore a good colour if used on clean wood, several thin coats work much better than one thick one, apply lightly until the wood will not absorb any more, you can use saturators on decks.

Don´t put any oil on decks, the reasons are:

• Every bit of airborne dirt and debris will instantly get stuck to the wet or tacky oil.

• It will require extensive maintenance forever more.

• Will be unbearably hot under foot in the sun.

• Can become like a skating rink when wet.

I hope you have enjoyed reading this post, please feel free to follow me on social media.