[alberg30] Re: teak

[Robert E Johns]

From: Robert E Johns <bobjns at nais.com>

Dan & others

When we bought our A30, Wind Call (#397) in 1976 the lazarette hatch had
been sanded by a previous owner who apparently panicked when he saw the
glue appear. I thought that the glue looked so bad that I decided to see
what was underneath. It turned out that there was another pristine layer of
teak cross grained to the first. I have sanded through several layers of
teak through the years and each time the new layer was good teak. The
hatches (and inserts in the cockpit seats) were all built this way.
Eventually, I had to redo the lazarette hatch because the laminations
started to separate (my fault - I had not kept it oiled). I rebuilt it with
solid teak planks about 2 1/2 inches wide by about 3/8the to allow shaping
the crown. The bottom of the hatch is reinforced with short (4 inch or so)
cross pieces. This construction has worked out well.

The seat inserts were sanded once or twice again into new good crossed
grain, but then I couldn't sand at the edges because the teak was below the
surface of the fiberglass seat. I replaced them with solid planks with
blank rubber compound separating the planks. This looked good but the seat
tended to flex when you stood on it. I tried reinforcing the seat with half
round fiberglass molded around paper towel rollers, but it still flexes. I
still don't know what to do to fix this.

This year I sanded down the main hatch and it really came out nice. I used
60 or 80 sandpaper on a block and the hatch looks like new. This year I
finally decided to try finishing the teak. Previously, I left it bare,
except for oiling the laminated hatches. I used Ceptol (I think that is the
name). I think I like it but I am so used to the bare teak I have to get
used to it.

By the way, one year I made the mistake of oiling the cockpit seats.
Barbara made me promise never to do that again! The oiled seats were hot to
sit on. Really bad.

I suggest that anyone thinking about redoing hatches try sanding through
the glue. There could well be some good teak below it.

Bob Johns, Wind Call



-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, or to change your subscription
to digest, go to the ONElist web site, at http://www.onelist.com and
select the User Center link from the menu bar on the left.

 897494381.0