Refinishing External Teak - Calculating Fair Price?

[sgharford]

Curious, does anybody have a rule of thumb regarding refinishing external teak by a 3rd party? Way I see it - comes in 2 flavors - Complete take down to bare wood with 6-8 coats OR yearly maintenance of 2-3 top coats over existing.

About every other year or so a new group of teak finishers stroll the docks looking for work. Whenever I meet them, no matter who they are, and review what I want done - they always ask me 'How much you want to pay me'. It's a game I don't mind playing when negotiating for a finished product, but I don't like playing with workmanship yet to be completed on my boat. I prefer giving people what they ask for with contract work and getting multiple bids to decide who I will use. Anyway, sure we have all been there and done that and thought I would see if anybody has formula for coming up with a fair price? Thanks All - Scott.

 

[Jammin']

Last year I paid to have my handrail forward of the aft enclosure refinished. He did a very nice job with Awlwood for $600. I can't remember how many coats.

 

[jim rosenthal]

Awlwood is great stuff. Maybe the new standard.

 

[Photolomy]

so, what is involved with doing the handrails? I thought I would be happy with natural, but unless you oil them daily here in Florida, natural = gray. Is it just a matter of removing them, sanding them, staining, and then Awlwood?

 

[cenger]

To use Awlwood you have to have bare wood. Any varnish/oil not completly removed will cause the Awlwood to look funny in that spot. Sanding is by far the most important step in the process. I like to wash the wood with a acid before varnishing than rinse well with water to stand up the grain. Awlwood is a 2 part, the first part is a primer that is available in yellow, red or natural. I like the natural best (note it does turn the wood darker). Once you have a coat of primer its a matter of applying the 6 top coats with a chip brush. Awlwood is relatively easy to work withh compared to varnish. Directions say you can thin it up to 10% but I found I did not need to use the Awlwood thinner. Product is about the consistency of Diesel and goes on easily. You can do multiple coats in a day. First 2 coats I put on without sanding, coats 3-4 I lighly sanded in between with 220 grit. For the last 2 coats I sanded with 320 in between.

 

[carolinacoast]

I probably overpay, but do have a vendor that does the super yachts when they are in town. I pay less than 1/2 of what they charge as long as it is out of season.
This year. sand and 4 coats of epifanes on railings, name boards and bow. doors had to be stripped in places and feathered back in with 7 coats. same on flybridge.
$2800 including materials. took him 6 working days. not full time on coating days. meticulous.
I have paid far less, and usually feel more ripped off. I keep covers on when I can, but does not cover doors. Looks great now.
I probably pay $50-60/hour plus materials. He did used to run the woodworking shop at Thunderbolt Marine, and qualified to charge accordingly.

 

[Photolomy]

I probably overpay, but do have a vendor that does the super yachts when they are in town. I pay less than 1/2 of what they charge as long as it is out of season.
This year. sand and 4 coats of epifanes on railings, name boards and bow. doors had to be stripped in places and feathered back in with 7 coats. same on flybridge.
$2800 including materials. took him 6 working days. not full time on coating days. meticulous.
I have paid far less, and usually feel more ripped off. I keep covers on when I can, but does not cover doors. Looks great now.
I probably pay $50-60/hour plus materials. He did used to run the woodworking shop at Thunderbolt Marine, and qualified to charge accordingly.

How long does that last? With covers? Without?

 

[cenger]

I have been told Awlwood can last 10years if well cared for. I am on year 3 and it still looks like I applied it yesterday. I have restored a lot of wood boats using Epifanes which is a great product but it does not look as crisp after the first year and requires refresher coats every few years. I'm currenlty restoring a 1929 Gar Wood and going to use Awlwood after the great results I had on the Hatteras. For wood boats 2 part varnishes were no good because of the hardness but Alwood is supposed to be more flexible. If interested in some non Hatteras boat porn enclosed is a link to my Gar Wood restoration https://goo.gl/photos/6zf4NyvZN5ZrE9ve8

 

[Jammin']

I also had the companionway door refinished with Epifanes, but the shop plugged where the old lockset came out and mortised in a new one. New screen too. Beautiful work. $1000.

 

[rsmith]

Years ago I was docked next to Jack Nicklaus at Old Port cove in North PalmBeach. He had 3 girls that did a great job with his teak. I don’t know what he paid but I enjoyed every minute. Turned out all three worked at the Bloody Duck. just never know where you’re going to find good teak work.

 

[Pascal]

Awlwood Is the best these days but unlike mentioned earlier it s not really a two part finish. Traditionally two part Means you have to combine a catalyst withhold the base. Like Bristol. Awlwood is a one part finish except that when Applied to Bare wood you have to apply a primer first. After that it s a single part no mixing no sanding (till the last couple of Coats) finish

What I use on this lil’ thing i designed and built a few years ago..: hull, mast, everything

 

[jim rosenthal]

I have never seen any varnish type finish which lasts like Awlwood. I would not use anything else at this point. In a sense, Awlwood IS a two part finish- it is a moisture-cured urethane, like 5200 is, so it cures from the environmental water vapor.

 

[jmooney]

We are just about finished varnishing, rails , name boards, aft deck doors. We went down to bare wood , removed the old finish with a heat gun and scrapers. We had paid for this in the past . Here in Miami, we paid $35 per hour . It ended up being $6500 . Due to the pandemic, we are on the boat a lot, so we thought that we would do it ourselves. From the discussion above, we should have used Awlwood , but no , we used Awlspar , ten coats followed by a good sanding to level. Then ten coats of Awlbrite , sanded , then at least one more coat . The last 2 coats on the doors were sprayed. So far 6 cans of Awlspar , about $40 per quart. 4 sets of three part Awlbrite at $200 a set. And we aren’t done yet. And who knows how much sandpaper. Good thing my wife is a worker!

 

[oscarvan]

My PO was fanatic about the wood work. It is in excellent shape, regular ol' spar varnish. The fact that the boat has been shed kept to this point doesn't hurt. In fact, I can argue with myself that paying the extra for a shed would be a wash with the cost of varnish monkeys, IF you can find decent ones. Way it is now all I have to do is a light sanding and a few coats every two years.