39
The teak deck
The teak deck is a part of your boats character. After a few weeks the teak will turn greyish, and a
smooth silvery grey deck is probably what most people like to see. The reality is often something quite
different.
You have probably already seen dark, dirty, sometimes mildewy teak decks. Mildew is something that is
more frequent today than some decades ago. You will find it not only on teak decks. It can be found on
concrete, piers, painted surfaces and so on. The presence might differ very locally, some areas suffer a lot
from mildew, and others are not hit at all. In the long run the best way to treat the teak deck against
mildew is to use Boracol. Boracol is a liquid that is uncoloured and thin like water. It is sold in normal
chemist shops and hardware dealers. It is marketed as a treatment against mildew for garden furniture.
Use a normal paintbrush and paint the deck with Boracol. Never use a normal brush on the teak! Do
the work on a dry dray. If it rains too much Boracol will be washed away. It does not matter if it is
drizzling the next day but if it rains the complete day or over splashing waves washes over the deck, the
Boracol will make no effect. That would flush the Boracol way too early. If it does not rain, spray the
deck a little with water. This little amount of water only helps the Boracol to penetrate into the teak.
After three to seven days you wash the deck with a sponge and cleaner, for example green soap. Please
do not be afraid if you do not see any positive result immediately. On the contrary, the deck looks
worse than it did before the treatment. After about ten days things will start to happen. The mildew has
disappeared and the deck is clean. The mildew will not recur for some time. Do not be afraid to repeat
the treatment now and then.
Environment protection
Don’t use abrasive detergents and avoid using more than necessary.
Our recommendation is:
Wash regularly , if needed, once in a while with oxalic acid or sodium hypochlorite. Use a rag on the
brush or a sponge to spare the soft part of the wood fibres, to minimise the wear.
You can also use fine-grained sandpaper. This will, if used lightly, only take off the tops. The brown
areas that appear will soon fade, bleached by the sun. The amount of wood removed by light hand
sanding is so small that it hardly matters.
The worst thing that can happen to a teak deck is cleaning it with a high pressure water jet. Every
marina or yacht yard has such an equipment and there are definite reasons to strongly advise against
the use of this on your teak deck. It’s only a matter of seconds before deep grooves are made, or even
splitting the teak.
At every boat show we meet people claiming that their high pressure cleaner with the right setting will
clean a teak deck without damaging the wood. Do not believe them.
To Next Page
Loading...