Interior Teak

Magic Dragon was built in 1983 and has had a lot of adventure in her life.  During that time the sun and other elements of the sailing life have taken their toll on the teak bulkheads.  The damage is cosmetic and was left as one of the last things to do in her refit.  During the social isolation brought about be the corona virus ravaging the world, I have time to attend to the restoration of the teak surfaces.

Damaged Teak

Teak bulkhead in the pilot house

This is the teak on the bulkhead separating the pilot house from the salon.  It is the teak panel directly in front of somone entering the pilot house down the companionway from the cockpit.  It is faded, splotchy and yellowing.  The varnish covering is flaking off.

Varnish removal

This is the teak panel behind the helm in the pilot house.  The old varnish, perhaps from 1983, was so dead that it came off easily with a cheap scraper.  The portion on the right, that is darker in color, shows unremoved varnish. The varnish in that area is more difficult to remove because it is less damaged having not seen as much sun as the rest of the teak panel.

The wood of the veneer is dried out and retains a bit of the varnish that the scraper did not remove.  I will sand it very lightly, being careful not to sand through the veneer.

After research, and careful consideration, I have decided to use a teak oil of the type that will dry hard and allow varnish or urethane to be applied later if I decide to do that.  That type of teak oil, is known as a “drying oil” and is a mixture of oil and varnish, sometimes with other things like a UV filter added.

 

 

This is the bulkhead between the pilothouse and salon that you see in front of you when you enter the pilothouse from the cockpit.    I hope that the splotches and reddish discoloration are in the old varnish and not in the wood.