I found a task worth doing while waiting for the fog to lift this morning, along with listening to the Ferry fog horns blasting away every now and then.
We've owned our R-25 for a little over 3 years now and the cabin's teak linings and cabinet doors are starting to show signs of drying out some. The only teak/wood surface that was treated with some form of polyurethane by the Factory was in the shower/head area, on the dinette table, the Teak-Holly cabin gangway flooring and the dinette table flooring which all look pristine.
Today I gave everything not treated with polyurethane a real dowsing with Teak oil and it was soaked up easily. It has brought the grain up nicely, darkened the wood slightly and the cabin smells kind of nice as well. The task took about 1 hour.
Having done that I decided to unwrap the tan canvas from the cockpit seat and backrest. They zippered off easily and I noticed the factory had wrapped the inner sponge with a plastic presumably to avoid the sponge from soaking up any water -- a nice touch. I then took them home and placed them in the washing machine using Delicate setting and a cold water wash. They cleaned up very nicely and look like new. No shrinkage occurred. 🙂 Before replacing the sponge in the canvas covers I sealed/covered the sponge with the factory supplied plastic but also secured the plastic with adhesive strapping tape to ensure the sponge was completely protected from moisture/water. This also made it easier to insert the sponge into the canvas bags.
As the R-25 does not have the cabin walls lined with teak panels there was much less work involved, than say for the R-27. I suspect the task would take twice as long for the R27, but would be well worth doing if the wood starts to look dried out.
Some TugNuts have varnished their teak wood surfaces, but I've resisted doing that.
We've owned our R-25 for a little over 3 years now and the cabin's teak linings and cabinet doors are starting to show signs of drying out some. The only teak/wood surface that was treated with some form of polyurethane by the Factory was in the shower/head area, on the dinette table, the Teak-Holly cabin gangway flooring and the dinette table flooring which all look pristine.
Today I gave everything not treated with polyurethane a real dowsing with Teak oil and it was soaked up easily. It has brought the grain up nicely, darkened the wood slightly and the cabin smells kind of nice as well. The task took about 1 hour.
Having done that I decided to unwrap the tan canvas from the cockpit seat and backrest. They zippered off easily and I noticed the factory had wrapped the inner sponge with a plastic presumably to avoid the sponge from soaking up any water -- a nice touch. I then took them home and placed them in the washing machine using Delicate setting and a cold water wash. They cleaned up very nicely and look like new. No shrinkage occurred. 🙂 Before replacing the sponge in the canvas covers I sealed/covered the sponge with the factory supplied plastic but also secured the plastic with adhesive strapping tape to ensure the sponge was completely protected from moisture/water. This also made it easier to insert the sponge into the canvas bags.
As the R-25 does not have the cabin walls lined with teak panels there was much less work involved, than say for the R-27. I suspect the task would take twice as long for the R27, but would be well worth doing if the wood starts to look dried out.
Some TugNuts have varnished their teak wood surfaces, but I've resisted doing that.