Citristrip Paint & Varnish Gel on Teak on boat?

[Stu Jackson]

Yes.

4 Basic Choices:

1.  Cetol

2.  Varnish

3.  Teak oil

4.  Nothin'

[RobertSchuldenfrei]

Yes, those are the choices.  But "nothing" will lead to drying and splitting over time.  Our boat had its wood "eyebrows" removed and the mounting holes filled.  I can guess why.  I have seen other 34s from the 80s and 90s with the wood in just terrible shape.  As you know my choice is Cetol, but varnish or oil works well.  By the way, once you use oil, you are pretty much committed to oil as it seeps into the teak and makes Cetol or varnish difficult to use.  I removed varnish with a heat gun; slow but sure.

[Clay Greene]

I went from varnish to oil to Cetol without a problem.  I gently sanded the old varnish off (it was in pretty bad shape so it came off easily) and several years later used teak cleaner to get the oil off before applying the Cetol. 

I have used Citristrip before and it often requires multiple applications and makes a real mess.

[Bobg]

best stuff I ever saw was a product called signature out of florida,, difficult to put on, but done exactly right, it will last like new for years.  Friend of mine has a 34 catalina, 6 years later his bright work is still the envy of the marina.

[Mike McDonald]

I removed my forward grab rails, but unfortunately, the starboard rail snapped in two at on of the screw locations under a bung.  It looks like I may be able to glue the fairly long horizontal break back together, but just in case that doesn't work, does anyone have a good source for new grab rails?  Also, the holes are not perfectly evenly spaced, and some appear to be at angles, which would make it a challenge to align and pre-drill the new rails.  Have any of you done this?  Can the screws under the bungs be replaced with screws from the bottom instead? I imagine that this would make it more challenging aligning the rails on the curve. I would appreciate your thoughts. Thanks.
Mike.....

[Clay Greene]

The handrails are available at Catalina Direct:

http://www.catalinadirect.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&product_ID=1494&ParentCat=644