The Endless Project List

Our boat, an Island Packet 420, has some beautiful exterior teak trim.  On the side of the cabin, over the top of the ports, is a thin half-round strip called the "eyebrow" which runs on both sides all the way back to the cockpit.  There's more to be found in the cockpit across the top of the coaming.  Just in case you don't already know, the coaming is the raised wall around the cockpit that forms the back for the seats.  It's real purpose is to keep water out of the cockpit but it also serves as an equipment platform (for winches), additional seating (for wenches), and a convenient, but hazardous, place to set your tools (for wrenches).  The coaming on our boat is topped with a piece of teak about 1" thick, 4.5" wide and full length on either side of the cockpit.  The majority of the exterior teak is in the toe-rail at the outer edge of the deck.  This runs from the bowsprit (also teak) down both sides and across the stern.  The toe-rail serves to keep things, such as tools and crew members, from sliding off the side of the boat.  Ours also serves as a mounting surface for cleats and safety rails, as well as sealing the joint between the deck and the hull.

When we bought the boat the teak had just been refinished and looked really nice.  Until now I've never had a boat that had teak with a varnish-like finish on it.  My parents had a Dickerson ketch that had loads of teak but it was kept unfinished and we just scrubbed it all the time.  In fact, back then we used a teak cleaner that was like Ajax or Comet cleanser and you just sprinkled some on and scrubbed it with a handbrush.  Probably not considered environmentally friendly these days.  Our last boat had some teak but it too was unprotected and we thought it looked just fine in it's weathered state.  A good protective finish for exterior teak will have at least 6 coats.  Our neighbors have 15 coats on their teak.  It looks like ours had two, maybe three coats, just enough to make it look nice.  Over this past winter it completely deteriorated and by the Spring it was looking really shabby with blotches of gray and black stains.  Now our beautiful boat looked ratty and neglected.

While we were on vacation last month I finally decided to do something about the teak.  That's right, this is how I spent my vacation.  I can only sit around and relax for so long before I get bored and then I have to find something to do.  Restoring the teak seemed like an excellent little project to take on.  Got hold of some really cool stuff called Captain John's Boat Brite Soy Stripper.  Put on a heavy coat of this stuff with a brush, let it sit for a few minutes and scape it off with a paint scraper.  The finish lifts right off the wood with very little effort.  Pretty amazing stuff.  You want to work only on what you can do in about 45 minutes because the stripper will start to dry out after that and it makes things really difficult.  I figured this one out the hard way, coated about 40' of toe rail and went back and started to scrape it off.  I got through about 25' before it began to harden.  After that I worked on sections, maybe 15' at a time, and that worked out much better.

So, I got one side and about half the bowsprit stripped and then the weather got really hot and muggy and stayed like that for the rest of our vacation.  I went back to work and another week flew by before I got back to it.  Even then I only got sections of teak stripped between doing more important stuff like laundry and grocery shopping and going out for day-sails.

Now, three weeks have gone by and I finally got all the finish stripped off the toe-rail.  I then went over it with a two stage cleaner to get the gray and black stains out.  I used a medium bristle hand brush like you might use for scrubbing grout between tiles.  Using the Stage 1 cleaner with just a light scrubbing lifted the stains and the teak looked like new wood again.  Cool!  I tried the second stage cleaner and couldn't see any difference so I just skipped that part.  Once I had all the teak cleaned I went back over it again, rinsing it off every ten feet or so as I cleaned it.  The wood looked really nice at this point but I had to stop progress because it was Sunday night and I had to go back to work.

By the time I got back to it another week had gone by.  Yikes!  The wood was already turning gray again!  Cheri and I talked it over and decided we didn't want to go through the struggle of putting on 15 coats of finish and then maintaining that.  We both like the look of the varnished wood with multiple coats of clear but neither of us can picture keeping it up once we sail off into the sunset.  Instead we decided to go the traditional route and try oiling the teak.  It looks really sweet when it's all cleaned up and with teak oil, if you let it go the wood will turn a nice even gray.  This is opposed to the hard finish that wears off in spots and looks awful if you don't stay on top of it.  So we decided to try the oil for a few years and see if that works for us.

First I spent another day cleaning it (again) and in the process found some more spots that needed stripping.  Now this stuff looks really good.  We then put on two coats of oil and the color and grain came right out, looking really nice.  The color is kind of a golden, reddish, browney, orange and has a rich, antiquey look to it.  Now all we have to do is maintain it.  That means a light coat of oil now and then, less than an hour's worth of work.  Probably have to clean and brighten it again in the Spring but that still seems better than having to sand and brush on a hard finish.  We'll see how it goes.

We set up a maintenance cycle on our computer using the calendar program.  We scheduled stuff like cleaning air and water filters as well as oiling the teak.  Things that are done periodically.  One of the air filters needs cleaning every week.  Up until now we've waited until the A/C system freezes up before we realize it's time to clean the air filters.  There are also traps in the raw water lines for the engine, deck wash-down pump, A/C water pump, and the shower sumps.  These get pretty grotty over time too.  So, now with our cool-man scheduling program I'll be able to stay on top of this stuff, take better care of our gear and keep the teak looking sweet for many years to come.

I've been working on a "preventer" for the mainsail and the staysail.  A preventer is a line that attaches to the end of the boom and pulls the boom forward to keep tension on it.  When you're sailing with the wind coming from behind the boat the boom is out to one side, usually the downwind side.  In light winds the rocking of the boat can cause the boom to swing around and if the wind gets in behind it you have a situation called an unintentional gybe where the boom swings from one side of the boat to the other.  This is super dangerous and people have been seriously injured, clonked on the head, even knocked overboard.  You can also have an intentional gybe where you control the motion of the boom by pulling it in to centerline with the sheet and then letting it out the other side.  What I'm doing is using a line to "prevent" the boom from swinging unintentionally.  The line is attached to the end of the boom and leads forward to a block (pulley) halfway down the side of the boat (midships) and then back to a winch in the cockpit.  I can control the tension on the boom from where I sit and make adjustments between the main sheet and the preventer.  Simple, huh?

Have you priced gold recently?  This past weekend it was $1500 an ounce!  We traded in some necklaces and broken jewelry that had been sitting around collecting dust and walked away with a check for $3000.  Yowsa!  This'll cover a good portion of the cost for new electronics on the boat.  Unbelievable!  Sure wish I'd stashed away a few Krugerrands back when I was a yout.  We coulda paid off the boat.

Quick note: anodes are used on a boat to deal with electrolysis.  This happens when you place different types of metal in water.  With our boat we have stainless steel in the propeller shaft, bronze in the prop and brass or bronze in all the through-hull fittings.  This difference in metals sets up a "battery" condition and electric current flows from one piece to another.  The piece that the current flows from is eaten away and this can get expensive when it's your propeller or create other problems if it's your through-hulls.  Zinc anodes are bolted to the propeller shaft and are eaten away ,"sacrificed", first before damage occurs to any other parts.  Anodes need to be replaced about every year.

This past Spring we had planned to have the boat hauled to clean the bottom and replace the anodes. We had originally planned to have it done while Cheri was out of town on business but because of one thing or another it never happened.  Now here we are coming up on August and I'm planning again to have the boat hauled for a week while Cheri is down visiting her Mom in Florida.  Good plan.  Yesterday I came home from work and saw a young lady in a bikini doing calisthenics on the dock near our boat.  As I got closer I realized she was wiggling into a wetsuit.   She's a scuba diver and she was getting ready to clean the bottom of the boat next to ours.  I talked to her and found out she'd be able to do our boat this week for $175 plus the cost of the anodes.  Cool!  Let's do it!  This is compared to $585 plus storage to have the yard haul the boat, powerwash it and block it so I could scrape of the barnacles, repaint and replace the anodes.  Yeah, this diver is definitely the way to go.  Plus we won't have to deal with living on the boat while it's up on the hard for a week.

We've gotten some stuff done around the boat and still managed to get out on the water now and then.  Getting the teak done was a big deal, not the small job I first thought.  Getting the bottom cleaned is also a big deal.  And do you mind if I bring up the jewelry thing again?  Yes, big deal.  This Fall we'll take that cash and invest it in a chartplotter, radar, GPS, AIS and sonar.  That'll keep me busy for a while!