The sun is very hard on wood and one constantly has to re-varnish or Cetol his teak to keep the grain sealed and the wood from drying up. This is a big job that needs to be repeated twice a year in the tropics. Not our idea of retirement. Two years ago we decided to let the wood go grey.

Recently we noticed that more and more of the teak plugs were coming lose and out during boat washing. In some places the teak was beginning to crack.

We decided that it was time to take the bull by the horn and do something which was going to protect the wood from further deterioration and was going to be low maintenance. On the advise of experts we decided to have the outside teak refinished.

We chose the one part Interlux Brightside Polyurethane, which offers a reasonable choice of colors and which has a good resistance to UVs.

We hired Beto from B.B. Marine, a Mexican National, who, as you can see, does good work for a very fair price. He can be reached at 669-148-3170 or at alarbet75@hotmail.com

This means that from now on, we only need to give a light sanding and apply one coat of this stuff once every 1 1/2 or two years. In the meantime it looks great.

While Beto was here, we had his crew buff and wax the coach roof which had gotten very dull. Now you need sun glasses to look at it and it protects the gelcoat from the nasty UVs.

In early January, Beto will refinish the teak floors of Taya.