Refinishing Teak Floors
Date: November 15, 1999
From: Rex & Ann Crawford Sockhat1@aol.com
Our 1984 33' has what I believe to be teak and holly floors. I wish I knew someone who knew the proper procedure for re-finishing them as well as the teak interior. Anyone got suggestions?
Date: November 16, 1999
From: Donna Cass bacchus42@earthlink.net
Our 42 came with the entire manual and it lists those products used on our boat.
International Paint
Varnish #60 - Hand rubbed - interior
Sealer #x9297 - used to seal all varnished areas, interior or exterior
Varnish #90 - Cabin sole
Since I am not fond of the upkeep the varnish calls for, I would use another product. However, I havae been told that other "POLY" products cannot be used over these finishes without complete removal of the varnish. I would contact the company and ask lots of questions. The following is the adress and form #:
1983:
Morris & Elmwood Avenues,
Union, NJ 07083
1-800-631-7481
(This is now the Interlux mfg.)
Good Luck!
I am sanding down those parts of the interior that need to be refurbished this winter, as time allows, to prepare all surfaces for finishing in the warmer spring weather. Our teak interior has exquisit grain a, especially on the curved and rounded surfaces, which I wish to maintain. I have completed the wood surrounding the center cockpit with satin Armada (nice color and grain shows through ) and we are very happy with it. However, I won the war (between spouses) regarding the use of a gloss finish as it is harder and will take the wear and tear better. I would not use a gloss on the interior sole as that could be hazardous when wet, and maybe even dry while on a heel.
Date: November 16, 1999
From: Bob McManis BMCMANIS@email.msn.com
Rex,
I have an '84 Endeavour 33 and have redone her Teak & Holly Sole as well as some of the teak interior. My Endeavour information indicated that the interior teak was originally finished with Interlux 60 (Interior Rubbed Effect Varnish) which I found to be available at West Marine. I just sanded the worn areas and recoated with Interlux 60 and found it matched perfectly. As for the sole, I removed the 3 panels and took them home to refinish about 5 years ago. I used a palm sander to remove most of the existing covering and recoated with an exterior Polyeurethane. You can either go high gloss or satin. I used high gloss and was pleased with the results. I will need to redo my sole in the next couple of years but keeping a couple of throw rugs on deck and cleaning frequently has prevented undue wear. I hope this helps.
Date: November 18, 1999
From: Joe Alvarez JAl1748@aol.com
I had a 33 prior to owning my current E40, and did refinish the sole on the 33. It consists of a thin sheet of teak and holly over a thicker sheet of marine plywood. I unscrewed all three sections, very lightly sanded sanded and refilled any scratches on the sole then applied six coats of varnish using Baehrs marine varnish that i bought at Home Depot, before the rocket scientists decided to discontinue it from the Florida stores, I found that varnish to be the most durable of all finishes i have used.
While you have the sole out of the boat, you may want to inspect the pan on which the sole rests, specially forwardnear the v-berth, what was happening to me, that on occassion the shower in the head would overflow, and water would sith under the sole, theefore Imdrilled two holes in the pan next to the head to enable water to drain into the bilge.
Incidentally, I owned my 33 for ten years, and it was a fantastic boat, very easy to sail, confortable and quite large for its size, had I not decided to retire and spend longer periods of time on the boat, I would still own Euphoria, not that the new Euphoria my E40 is not a great boat. If you have any questions, that I may help you
Date: Tuesday, November 16, 1999 8:41:22 PM
From: Josh Wallach jwallach@flash.net
Rex:
When we purchased our 1987 E-42 in 1993, she needed floor refinishing as well as alot of teak touch up. Let's start with the teak touch up. The Endeavour factory used Interlux rubbed effect varnish on all interior teak. Give your bad spots a light sanding with about a 300 grit or finer paper (sanded with the grain), and then 2 coats of the rubbed effect varnish. If you're careful and "feather" the edges, the touch up will disappear into nicely varnished matching wood.
Regarding the flooring, the Teak & Holly is only a veneer and, Quite thin!!!! If you choose to take it to bare wood with a palm sander, use a relatively fine paper and be BE CAREFUL! It's very easy to burn right through the thin veneer and into plywood. We originally used a one part high gloss polyurethane (5 coats) and that has held up very well for 6 years now...We're just about ready to re-coat with 2 topcoats and will probably go with semi-gloss or even satin. The high gloss tends to accentuate imperfections and nicks in the wood. I've been told that Home Depot carries an excellent polyurethane that's made especially for wooden floors and it's actually priced normally, not like boat stuff!
Let me know if I can help...good luck...
Date: November 16, 1999
From: Mike and Denise Brennan brennand@nbnet.nb.ca
We bought a 1984 E33 this past spring and the sole was in really rough shape. I removed the sole (3 pieces) and used a sander to sand off the old finish down to the bare wood (teak & holly). Had to be very careful not to remove too much wood. Once I was down to the bare wood, I bought a good high gloss marine varathane and a REALLY GOOD 4" varathane brush. I cut the varathane about 10% with thinner and applied 8 coats of varathane. I let each coat dry thoroughly and sanded between each coat with an electric palm sander using 320 sandpaper. After the last coat I let it cure about a month before I reinstalled it in the boat. The end result looks like a new sole!
It was a lot of work, but was worth it. All together it took almost two months. After a summer of use, is is showing no wear (except for the small dent when I dropped the 20# fire extinguisher I was mounting). As for all the interior teak, we just used a teak oil and soft rag and went over the teak two weekends in a row. (Where the teak was stained/mildewed, we used a teak cleaner first). It looked good all summer. We'll do it again in the spring.
ps: Don't use a liquid stripper to remove the old finish. The liquid will seep down between the cracks between the teak and holly, and over time and after you apply the new finish, will seep back out and remove all your hard work. Good Luck!
Date: November 18, 1999
From: Dave Wright Dgw1@aol.com
I am a former owner of an E-32 and still receive the messages from Paul. My Endeavor had a fiberglass floor so I did not have to worry about refinishing. I did replace the teak veneer and all 10 ports. The teak veneer was varnished with high gloss after sanding. Be careful if you sand--the teak veneer is very thin.
However, on the new (used) Tartan 37 we have teak and holly veneer flooring. I would imagine that yours is also a veneer. We sanded the entire floor to bare wood using a extra fine sandpaper as the final sanding. Once again, I would be careful as the teak and holly veneer is probably not very thick. Once sanded and dust cleaned, it was wiped with alcohol to dry. Additionally, when wet with alcohol, it will show you what color the finished product will be. We used Minwax indoor/outdoor Helmsman Spar Urethane (clear semi-gloss). Three coats were applied with light sanding in between coats (we wish we had put more coats). At the boat show in Annapolis, I saw some of the more expensive boats with rubbed effect satin varnish. However, we did not want to fool with the varnish. Ours came out just fine.
\Caution, teak is an exotic wood and breathing protection should be used when sanding. My wife used a small orbital sander with a bag. There will be a lot of dust.
Date: November 16, 1999
From: Henry & Chippy Gild henry@gezernet.co.il
Hi,
Well I hope that I can help you as I have an endeavour33 84 which I I bought 2 years ago in the States and sailed her to Israel last May. I noticed that the floor was like pitted and an old salt showed me that the varnish was worn off in places, and his advice was as follows.
Removed the boards from the boat and then in little parts sprayed them with a varnish remorver, the spray bubbled and before it dried like 5-8 minutes I scrapped all the old varnish off with a spatula a metal one. The varnish came off very easy. After all the varnish was off I sanded the floor in a up and down motion ,not against the grain until it really looked good. If you wanted to see how it would look varnished then wet it a bit and you see the lovely grain. I used a 120 no sanding paper and had to keep cleaning the paper all the time.
After all this I gave a coat of yacht varnish using the gloss not the matt and after a drying out period of at least 24 hours, maybe more by you as the weather is colder I sanded it lightly with a no 220. This was repeated 6 times and now my floor (sole) looks like a million Dollars.
For the teak in the interior I use a Lemon oil which can be bought at the West Marine stores. I haven't yet found what to use in Israel.
Date: November 20, 1999
From: Bud Berry ISLAND TM@aol.com
We have a 1987 E42 and plan to redo our floors this winter...we have done the area behind the companionway ladder and under the nav station. we used a small scrapper to remove the old varnish using the scraper along with a powerful heat gun. heating old varnish is the ONLY WAY we found to remove the varnish with a reasonable amount of mess that can be vacuumed up. no way would we ever consider using a liquid stripper again. after scrapping, a light sanding with 320 grit sandpaper used with a sanpaper block is all we do before final prep by wiping the sanded surface with acetone and a tack rag. we use satin varnish with about 5 or 6 coats.
Date: October 16, 2000
From: Tom Gilbert TGil95746@aol.com
I have just finished refinishing my teak parquet floor. It's thick and easily sanded out with a plam sander and 150 or finer paper. A lot of vacuuming and the dust isn't too bad. I chose a polyurethane for the coats, as it's interior and would stand up to grit and other nasty matter. I cleaned the floor with the 2 part cleaner and got the deep stains out. Then used an oak stain in the first urethane coating. Then 2 more coats of satin with 220 grit rubbing the sheen off. The sheen was a bit dull, so the last coating was semi-gloss. It went on and looks just great. There is very little difference between gloss and semi, but a lot of difference going to satin. I used a foam brush for the last coating, and have no runs or stray bristles. Don't forget to wipe the area down with thinner just before applying the coatings. Then close the hatches and leave. Plan on a few short days to get the right finish. It's amazing how it cleans up and stays looking shiny and new.
