BLUEMOMENT

When we bought Shard in 2001, the external teak were treated with Sikkens varnish, so we continued with it. It certainly hasn't done any harm, but looks dull imho. In the possibly naive belief that it will show the wood to better advantage, we've started, or, at least, Mme S has started, using Burgess Hydrosol for the cockpit teak gratings; we will do the same for the tiller.

Now thinking about using it for the strake where it will be more exposed to salt water. Anyone had any experience of doing this?

If you have already used it, then you will have already decided if you like the look of it - fairly dark and fairly dull.

I was impressed by the 'blurb' - Mr Hammerite getting his chemists to come up with a new product for his boat.

I thought that it worked very well on solid wood but didn't seem to protect the plywood locker lids - but maybe they were already too far gone.

I found it very easy to use - can be applied to damp wood, and without lots of preparation. The liquid can be kept in a coffee jar, and the brush just needs washed out in water.

Despite using masking, and taking care with the brush - I often seemed to land up with another spot on the gelcoat - and found it very difficult to remove.

With the new locker lids, I decided to change to Deks Olje No 1 but although I like it look, I'm not impressed as it won't last through a whole season despite lots of coats. I don't want to go to the grief of using D O No 2.

Ash

No experience of using Hydrosol Shard, but we sued Sikkens Masterstroke for the strake. (I don't like the weathered gray teak. It always ends up green.) When Masterstroke became unavailable we switched to some other product (forgotten the name) which has lasted well, but the stuff on the strake was getting rather cracked and has been scraped of over the last few days. I am about to recoat with Cetol "wood oil varnish" Natural, which I used on the new cabin washboards last year. It is also a Sikkens product but has a better gloss than Masterstroke. I used four coats on the wash boards.

I also made some test strips for other treatments for comparison and these have been lying on a wall in the garden, propped up facing the sun, since last May. The Cetol has lasted well, four coats better than three It is still a bit shiny. None of the others has done well. Teak Oil was failing after a couple of months. Starbrite Tropical Wax lasted better but is looking poor now. The wash boards are still as shiny as when new.

I think the burgess stuff ( if it's the same product as I used years ago) is really for garden furniture as opposed to the finely crafted exotic timbers used in craft like yours.
As Ash says, it's a bit muddy and doesn't really do justice to the grain.
I also believe it looks worse than varnish when it gets to the end of it's life -ie it flakes off leaving light coloured patches which contrast with the mud.
Just my opinion though.

Thanks for the comments. Teak cockpit gratings have come up well with Hydrosol, but taken on board comments, so Mme S has varnished the tiller. Still undecided about the strake.

Meanwhile, i have the wonderful excuse of having my right hand in bandages following surgery. It's amazing how few chores I can do at the moment....

Great being relieved of fatigues - I did the same recently, and by the time it's all healed up, you've allegedly forgotton how to do things...!
Hope it wasn't anything too serious.