Eisboch wrote:

I'll chip in my two cents worth.

Some people go to a great deal of effort doing the Cetol thing that sticks
to naturally oily woods like teak and mahogany better than varnish.
Unfortunately, Cetol gives teak an unnatural orange color than many,
including me, simply don't like. Even Cetol on teak won't last long, even
in fresh water before starting to look ragged and requires periodic
stripping and maintenance. The exterior of our house was built with some
fairly large wood panel (mahogany) surfaces and finished in Cetol. Somewhat
darker than teak with Cetol, it still has an orange hue to it and needs to
be refinished every 2-3 years.

My preference for teak swim platforms is to sand or power wash (if
required), clean and rinse, then apply quite a bit of teak oil. Maintenance
after that is simple .... wash, rinse and wipe down with oil once every
month or two. Best of all, it keeps teak looking like .... teak.

We recently had the exterior teak decking on the Grand Banks sanded, oiled
and then top treated with a product that does not cover up the natural color
or look of teak. It looks spectacular. I don't know what the top treatment
is (I'll find out) but I've noticed that even a couple of months later the
deck has a slight "tacky" feel to it, but does not retain marks of any kind
when walking on it.,

We have some 6 year old outdoor furniture (chairs, tables) made of teak and
they become dirty and grey over time. Once a year I blast them with a power
washer and they look brand new. I don't even bother to add extra oil to
them.

Refinishing or completely removing Cetol is a major project when compared to
the minor maintenance of natural, oiled teak. And the natural teak looks a
hell of a lot better.

Eisboch

On my last daysailer, I had a teak thwart.have to admit, I liked oiling
it. It always looked great for a month or two. With our short seasons
up here... it would be no big deal to wipe down a bit of teak three or
four times the entire season.
Now if I can just remove the $%^% black paint the PO used to cover up my
current sailboat's teak rubrails, hand holds and casing around
companionway I'd gladly rub a little oil on.