On Tue, 13 Jun 2006 06:22:39 +0000, Jere Lull wrote:

In article t9Oeg.2962$634.359@trndny06,

"Thomas Wentworth" wrote:

Please post what you use on your bright-work. Tell why you use it, how
it goes on, and just generally what reason this product is the one for
you.

As others have mentioned, this is somewhat a religious topic.

I try to be objective. There's never enough time to keep the boat looking
as it should, over the long haul too. So I'm always looking for a better
ongoing regimen.

We prefer Cetol as we only re-coat every couple of years as needed, and
the two or five coats we can apply while we're at an anchorage for a few
days last quite a long time.

I started using Cetol last summer, in addition to the Deks Olje I've been
using for the past several years. So now I have some wood with each on
it. I'm doing a running comparison.

My first impression is that they both take about the same amount of time
to get a good finish, but the Deks is a lot easier to deal with. Mostly
you can just slop on the Deks #1 until the wood is saturated. Cetol
requires skill and care to get an even coat, which is important to get an
even color, because it's so thick and goopy and orange. Deks' is easier
to clean up too (drips and spills).

Deks #2 is basically plain old gloss varnish that goes on over the
oil-like #1, but it's softer than most varnishes and doesn't stay as shiny
for as long. One advantage to this softness is that it's not particularly
slippery. Cetol, OTOH, is very hard and shiny, with a durable shine, but
it's dangerously slippery.

Because Cetol is so hard, it's harder to "scratch and patch." It's still
easy enough though, and you can build up the #1 to match the color of the
surrounding wood. It's not much work because it goes on so thick, all at
once. I think this is what most people find so appealing. kDeks is
easier to scrape and sand, and the #1 slops on so easily, but the color
doesn't match until the new spot darkens with age.

My hypothesis -- Deks is much easier to apply, and to maintain, but Cetol
lasts longer and patches better. So perhaps a bit more time/care invested
with Cetol at first can give better ongoing results. We'll see. I'll
report more when I see how the boat held up over the winter, and as this
sailing season progresses.

Matt O.