Teak oiling: done!

One more thing off of my list: teak oiling the interior.  Luckness' interior looks much better now - which is cool, as she looked pretty sweet before!  I've oiled all of the interior wood.  During the project, which lasted for months, I got better at oiling.  The first surfaces I did don't look as good as the last ones, but its done for now.  Perhaps I'll do some more next winter, perhaps not.

I took a few photos but they don't do justice to it.  Part of it is tactile - you need to feel the new surfaces to really appreciate them.  I was hoping to have this done weeks and weeks ago, but its done now.

This note is for the future Craig who wants a reminder of what worked: clean the wood with a mixture of water/bleach.  Not too much bleach or it will etch the wood in droplet patterns which will need to be wet sanded out.  On the veneer, just clean it and then start oiling.  Three coats of Daly's Seafin seems good.  On the endgrain of the plywood where the core of the plywood is exposed - cupboard openings for example, add a lot of oil as the wood just soaks it up.

On the solid teak: sand with 100 grid, then 150 and lastly 220.  Initially sand until you get to clean wood, then sand to smooth out any imperfections.  Add three coats with a day to dry between each coat.  Then add one last coat and wet sand with 600 grid paper.  If the wood is exposed to the outside (stairs, engine cover, companionway entrance, etc) try another coat - until the wood doesn't soak up any more.

After each coat of oil, wait 15 minutes and wipe it off with a rag.  Once the wood has had enough oil it will start to draw out of it slowly.  So for the last coat, stay around and every 1/2 hour or so wipe the surface down again.  Keep doing this until there are no fresh drops on the surfaces.  If you don't wait around and wipe the surfaces clean after the wood has had enough, it will dry with little shiny droplets on the surface.

Next up: removing old sound deadening and adding new to the engine compartment.