T&T: teak decks, was teak sealers

[Faure, Marin]

>Based on this one year, I think it does not need to be salt water. But
it does need to simply be water, not pressure washed, and no brush.

The reason a teak deck should always be washed down with saltwater and
not fresh water is not so much for the teak itself but for what's under
it.  It's pretty rare for a teak deck, especially on an older boat, to
be so perfectly sealed and plugged that no moisture can get down through
the deck planks anywhere.  Lots of boats have wood subdecking, and even
fiberglass boats may have fiberglass subdecking with a plywood core.
Moisture that gets down into the wood subdecking through seams or by
following deck screws down will encourage dry rot if it's fresh water.
Saltwater will not encourage dry rot--- in fact many sailing vessels
like clipper ships were built with special containers attached to the
ribs that carried rock salt so that rainwater getting down under the
deck and running down into the bilge would pick up the salt and thus not
rot out the planks.  So the main reason for washing down a teak deck
with saltwater is to combat the potential for dryrot in the subdecking,
which anyone who's had to deal with this problem knows it's a very
expensive or time-consuming project.

______________________________
C. Marin Faure
GB36-403 "La Perouse"
Bellingham, Washington