Looking after teak decks is always a contentious issue.

Some recommend leaving them to go grey or maintain them with oil, to retain their look as when the teak was freshly cut and prepared.

I am one of the latter as we are quite often surrounded by grey skies- I do not want to look at grey on my boat!

Halcyon was the first Cape Cutter to have laid teak decks. This was done in October 2003- I provided Honnor Marine with the templates which I believe are in use to-day for any boat which has laid decks.

I have maintained the decks and consequently barring the odd mark are as good as when they were laid over 12 years ago.

This is not an arduous task- it takes a day to do which I generally do at the end of the season every other year, usually when it is raining outside- and its that or decorating in the house!

I lightly sand the decks with 240 grit paper, only enough to expose the grain of the wood.

Once done I clean off the wood with water to remove the dust, dry off and then re-treat.

I have experimented with a number of products but use Deks Olje D1 as my preferred product.

I rag this on in several layers, applying it before the previous dries to soak the oil into the wood. As can be seen the results are extremely effective!

Click on the  for a simple narrative for each photo.