1) Cleaning stains and dirt.

TEAK CLEANER (teak cleaner) is an energetic powder detergent and at the same time very delicate on teak to remove all deck stains, and you can go on washing the teak and it will be always more beautiful.
TEAK CLEANER is used by spreading it on the deck, previously abundantly wetted with fresh water or even salt water (if you are underway and water on board is never very abundant). It develops its action after about 10 minutes (in order not to waste any precious time) but longer action times increases its efficiency, without causing any problems for rubber seams or for wood.
A lot of products are on offer promising that they are going to clean teak, but they often do it in a too energetic manner. As a matter of fact, because of such a strong action they attack the deck seals (they make it like liquorice softening them and increasing their volume losing their mechanical characteristics) they coarsen the wood surface making it poor and destroy part of the natural protection. Teak Cleaner is instead as strong against stains and dirt as it is delicate on teak, rubber, paints and varnishes.
TEAK CLEANER safety: if during the cleaning you receive a telephone call or you go and lift the mooring of the boat next to you, do not worry, because even if the powder dries out completely, a little bit of water will be enough to start the action again where it stopped. After ten minutes clean with several passes across the grain, using a very soft hog with fine bristles or a sponge or a cloth and rinse abundantly with water.
Do not use any hard or coarse bristle brushes because they are going to damage the wood taking away the teak substance from the grain, making it poor and raising the grain. The cleaning is not made by the brush but by TEAK CLEANER which applied on the wet surface and agitated lightly renews its action and cleaning, bringing back to light the fibres greyed by dust, pollution, smog, stains. The brush to clean the main deck has to be as “hard” as the one to polish shoes........delicate shoes, so you will be sure that the teak grain is not raised not even after one hundred years!
When it dries out, you will have the pleasure of seeing the deck taking on a colour and aspect you had not seen for a long time, and mainly without removing not even a gram of your precious teak and seams and all the deck fittings and it will not have been subject to any chemical action because as opposed to other products TEAK CLEANER does not damage either wood or seams.
More cleaning treatments, even though you will be already satisfied after the first one, will allow you to uniform in beauty also less accessible parts (for example next to the stanchions, hatchways etc.).
In case of oil or grease stains proceed in the following manner: wet the stained part with abundant water, spray over with TEAK CLEANER and move it around lightly so that it dissolves properly; lay over a wet cloth and pour on this cloth some more water. Let it work for 20 to 25 minutes then spread with a soft cloth or with a sponge (always across the grain) if needed repeat the operation. Afterwards you proceed with a general deck wash down.

2) Deck Teak: general information

As soon you get into the boat we look at the deck and when it is in teak and well kept it is a pleasure for the eyes and also a good show for the interior.
There are lots of stories about teak decks (the one we remember was told by a Friend and referred to a warship of our Navy) which, after being dismantled and having broken up the deck, its teak experienced a second life on new hulls and after decades it still shows well and does its job perfectly.
In that time labour was relatively cheaper, the materials were more difficult to find, but the brain was more inventive. Then it was normal to dismantle those boards and to clean them up, it would take a short time to plane them and with a new volume the wood, slightly reduced, would relive in all its power, integrity, colour and perfume. Maybe we should do that again because forests, woods and nature are severely under assault. Certainly we have to evaluate for how much time we still need teak and we should consume only the “fruit” of what nature is giving without destroying the inestimable capital.
Maintaining teak, this precious and generous wood, requires only a little care to keep it always in best shape, and ......even if you leave it abandoned for months, after the first wash it shows all its resistance and beauty again. Teak is beautiful but the sun and the passage of time change it to pale grey that continues to slowly get darker because the rain mixes with the very fine powder and pollution in the air transporting it into the teak fibres. What should we do then?

3) Maintenance

TEAK BRIGHTENER (lightener) is a liquid product to be added to water to wash the deck and spread with a soft hog or with a cloth on the deck previously soaked with fresh or salt water.
After 5 to 10 minutes rinse it abundantly and admire the result.
TEAK BRIGHTENER is used day after day especially when the boat is being used, and it makes the teak always “brighter” and cleaner, ready to be oiled. It is necessary to underline that many people prefer maintaining the deck only using TEAK BRIGHTENER because they appreciate the sophisticated look of such a reliable and decorative wood.
It is important to know that both TEAK CLEANER and TEAK BRIGHTENER are suitable to remove deep stains from varnished wood caused by bad weather, dents, etc. It is applied on limited areas during re-varnishing preparation with outstanding aesthetical results, and you use it as described above making sure to rinse and dry the surface perfectly before staring to varnish.

4) Oiling

TEAK OIL SEALER (teak oil) from Boat Life is applied on previously cleaned decks to saturate and seal the teak against any further dirt infiltration and stains to give back to the teak those essential superficial oils which where “consumed” by sunshine and other factors. TEAK OIL SEALER “balances” again the right teak condition and makes it more water repellent just as when the teak had been cut. TEAK OIL SEALER is applied with a brush, soft cloth or with a sponge, spreading it over the entire surface. When the surface is very large, as you proceed, it is advisable to reunify the treated part with a cloth so that the oil quantity is applied equally, removing the surplus that was not absorbed by the porous fibres. When the work is finished the aspect obtained is impressive.
During the season it may be necessary to apply oil at other times due to the drying effects of a warm season.
TEAK OIL SEALER contains a mix of precious oils and wood resins. Thanks to these it is ideal to give its natural colour back to transparent varnished and whitened wood, close to screws and joints, before varnishing it again.
TEAK OIL SEALER does not contain any dye and if the deck was cleaned as previously indicated the right quantity of TEAK OIL SEALER will give its original colour back the teak..... without adding anything.

5) Repairing and costructing the deck

How should we behave and what are the right materials to use when the deck is to be repaired or remade or when we have to rubberise again, remaking the rubber seams of the deck? The sealer NAUTILUS Deck Seal based on polyurethane polymer is a modern one-pack adhesive, which gives the highest reliability wherever the deck needs rubberising.
Its most significant feature is its ability to withstand the dynamic movement forces of a boat without detaching from seams and joints. NAUTILUS Deck Seal is the sealer for decks seams where elasticity and toughness are necessary without loosing adhesion and water-tightness. It is available in 310 ml cartridges or 600 ml bags.
NAUTILUS Deck Seal is applied within 2 hours from preparing the seams with Primer deck seal. If more time is needed it is necessary to apply another primer coat.
NAUTILUS Polyurethane Sealant is a rubber that dries depending on temperature and moisture and it creates a joint that bonds heterogeneous materials (wood-fibreglass, wood-aluminium, steel-fibreglass, etc.), its surface can be sanded and varnished again. As it is very easy to apply and highly reliable it is also very suitable to substitute silicon mainly for bulkhead and hull openings, portholes, skylights etc.
Using NAUTILUS Polyurethane Sealant reduces preparation times and satisfies the technical requirements of the boatyards and Naval Registers.
NAUTILUS Polyurethane Sealant is available in 310 ml cartridges in black and non-yellowing white.
Analysing the cost of a teak deck instead of an iroko deck (or as somebody calls it teak A) and even not considering the possible “troubles” due to iroko wood, when teak is laid on deck, we discover that the final cost difference with the purchase price of the boat varies between 0.5% to 2%.
And then why should we take all these risks?
We would be very pleased if you contacted us not only to supply you with materials but also to give you, if needed, a series of advise to better direct your work and your choices, and also for personalised advise on work cycles integrating products which are going to ensure the best performances.
Keep in mind that the seam to be filled with LIFE CALK or NAUTILUS DECK SEAL always has to be deeper than its width (its depth is to be at least one and a half times its width) and possibly to have a small dovetail.
It is important that during the application of the primer into the seam lots of care and attention is to be paid to “soak” it thoroughly without leaving the wood uncovered.
During deck construction it is advisable to lay marineply before the staves in order to ensure perfect water-tightness and a much higher robustness. It is necessary to treat the ply edges thoroughly in order to prevent infiltrations that due to capillarity would penetrate inside the boat possibly causing rot. It is more suitable to glue the staves onto the marineply with epoxy C-systems' ET 17 tixo, C-systems' 10 10 CFS, C-systems' 10 2 (in wooden or fibreglass constructions it gives more stiffness and stability to the entire boat). We would be very pleased to give you further information about this.
We have also “taken care” of luxury boats over 50 metres, important sailing vessels, and very large cruisers, but mainly we are daily concerned with the problems of many pleasure craft about which we are passionate, and are a continuous and always updated test-bed for product efficacy and reliability.
In construction, repairing, varnishing and finishing works the cost of “varnish” and of the above described materials covers a percentage from 10 to 15% of the final cost because all the rest is labour. Even if we can save up to 20% on the material price this will affect the total work by 2 to 3 % with the risk to have to remake the work. It is easy to understand that the possible initial saving becomes an eventual cost increase and more, namely:
- undoing the existing work
- recreation of the previous conditions
- redoing the work all over again
- loss of time, patience and....... money.

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