Jay,
You are absolutely right, smooth teak will add to longevity of the finish. The usual failures first occur at any hard edge points.
Here are some observations on 18 years of messing about with the teak on Rhapsody.
I have used teak oil, Cetol, Epiphanes, Honey Teak and “natural, no finish, grey. Of all the methods, Honey Teak is by far the best for appearance and longevity. As with any finish, periodic maintenance is a necessity. There is simply no easy way out. I will never again go with the natural look as the teak becomes grainy and needs to be washed and cleaned often. Going this route will result in the loss of wood over time and if you are in it for the long run with your Westsail, it becomes very noticeable. I have seen some boats where the caprails and grabrails are very thin due to repeated use of cleaners and scrubbing. The Pardeys, as mentioned in previous posts, are proponents of natural teak but spent a majority of their time at sea away from urban environments and used seawater to clean their teak, a very effective teak cleaner.
Honey Teak:
The only two drawbacks to this product are the expense and the need to keep the catalyst refrigerated. It is a beautiful, long lasting finish and if maintained will keep its appearance indefinitely. My bowsprit and deck mounted propane box lasted for nearly 10 years without any noticeable deterioration before I let the maintenance slide and the finish had to be removed. Removing Honey Teak requires a heat gun, scraper and more hours than I care to think about.
Teak Oil:
Beautiful, natural finish when applied on smooth, clean and bleached teak and then hand rubbed into the wood. Use this method if you want to spend the time doing it about every two weeks in tropical climates.
Epiphanes: Another beautiful finish but requires multiple coats and not forgiving of neglect. Again, this finish must be stripped completely if neglected.
Natural: Never again.
Cetol: This is what I currently use, with two coats of base and three coats of clear. I’m using the Cetol “Light” base. Cetol is somewhat remiss in not advertising that it is a two-part system. Without the clear coat, the product will not hold up for more than 8 to 12 months in tropical climates. Also, if you are using repeated coats of the base only for annual maintenance then after a few years you may as well have painted the teak with brown paint because it will completely hide the grain and result in a very muddy appearance. The disadvantages to Cetol are 24 hours between coats and to some, the slightly “orange tint”. I have found that applying a hand rubbed coat of Watco Teak Oil to bare teak before applying the Cetol not only mitigates the color somewhat giving the teak a more natural color it also makes the first coat application much smoother and will give you a good idea of whether or not some additional sanding is required before applying the finish. The teak should have a “waxy” feel to it before the Cetol is applied. This method will also protect fresh untreated teak for a week or two if weather or life events prevent you from getting that first coat on right away. If the finish has to be removed due to lack of maintenance, you can leave the power sander, heat gun and scraper in the tool bin and just break out the 100-grit sandpaper.
Sorry to weigh in so late on the discussion. It’s annual teak maintenance time.
Werner