MILES OF MASKING TAPE

[Bill]

October is the Fall month in our "coat the teak every six months" program. Six months is just long enough to forget how much effort goes into prepping the area for painting. It still amazes me to see the amount of masking tape it takes, even using newspapers. And after all that, it amazes me how I still manage to get some Cetol on the painted the surfaces

[tcoolidge]

I think it's a function of quantum mechanics. Not all the particles go where you want or expect them to go no matter what you do and sometimes they turn up in places you did not want or expect. It's physics and beyond our control.
Tom

[Scott Galloway]

Ahhhh, the beauty of Semco Teak Sealer is that if you are very careful you can apply it to teak evey six months with no masking...at least I do anyway. Just don't use the gold shade. It's too orange for my taste. The natural shade looks like new unfinished teak and retains that look until it is time to do a light once over with boat soap and water and an abrasive cloth, let dry for a day and refinish with two coats. I apply it with a cheapo one and 1/2 inch wide brush, and use the brush over again the next time.

You have to get back to raw wood first to use this stuff for the first time. A two part teak stripper will do that first stripping job. After that you don't need to strip the wood again unless you let the wood totally go by not reapplying the Semco Teak Sealer on a periodic basis. I apply it every six months.

Washing takes 1/2 hour Applying two coats of Semco Teak Sealer takes one afternoon for coaming boards, hand rails, door and companionway hatch boards, hatch trim and my pin rails. Of course, it doesn't look shiny like varnish or Cetol.

I have been using this product every six months since 2001: Once in the fall and one in the spring. As of the summer of 2007, I still like the stuff, and I wouldn't think of using anything else. I stripped and applied teak oil to teak decks on another boat for a number of years, and on yet another boat, I dealt with varnishing over and over again. The only place that I use teak oil these days is on the cabin sole. Semco Teak sealer is neaither teak oil, nor varinsh. It doesn't look like Cetol, It's a completey different product. Just use the natural shade.

[Bill]

An old BMW - 110 sailor passed on to me the sage advice that varnishing every six months was the key to success with exterior wood trim. No matter what the product.

BTW - with Cetol, all you need do is rinse the boat, wipe the teak and let dry before applying

[ebb]

I believe it is time for the admiral to post us a photo of his dolled up Ariel!
How about a 'wet' shot? West Coast rains have arrived and come in big.

[commanderpete]

Ah, the joys of brightwork. This Spring I put on another four coats of varnish while my boat was in the water.

I can still remember how good it felt just after the final coat was finished and I pulled the tape off.

Just then the guy in the next slip pulled his boat in and tied up. We chatted for a few minutes, admiring my gleaming handiwork, before I drove home.

I came back the next day and joy turned to despair. The varnish was all messed up--but only on one half of one side of the boat. I sat there trying to figure out what sort of freak atmospheric disturbance could have caused such a calamity.

Then it occured to me--my neighbor had hosed down his boat just after I left, splattering water on my wet varnish.

I can't win.