Refinishing teak...

[MikeP]

I'm going to be sanding off all the cetol on 53's rails and pulput and refinishing with varnish but what is the black material between the pulpit boards in the pic? It doesn't feel like silicone to me but maybe it is. I figured I'd remove it, sand and varnish the wood, and then replace the black "whatever it is." I'm thinking 80 grit to get the Cetol off then successively to 320 then varnish. Does that sound right?

[Passages]

I believe it's black polysulfide caulk.

It takes sanding well. My 1969 36' Trojan had acres of it.

If you need to touch it up, tape the margins, run a bead, smooth, allow to set, remove tape and it's like new!

[SeaEric]

You may want to consider a heat gun, carefully, to loosen up the old finish and then carefully scrape it off. To sand all of that off you will need a box car full of sandpaper! The black stuff is indeed a poly sulfide caulk.

[SKYCHENEY]

MIke,

Whenever I have refinshed my pulpit, I did not bother removing the caulk. I just sanded and then recoated with several coats of good varnish.

And how is that anchor held up there? I can't see any chain lock.

[solanderi]

I was also going to complement you on how nice the pulpit looks but ditto on where is the chain lock and respectfully, what are the snaps for?

[MikeP]

This pic was taken when we first looked at the boat. You can't see it in the pic but the anchor is secured with a piece of line. THere was no chain lock at the time. The previous owner told me he NEVER anchored. In fact, the gypsy was the wrong size for the chain and it wouldn't feed properly. I had to purchase a new Gypsy from Ideal ($800 ) to accomodate the BBB chain.


The snaps are for a canvas cover that encloses the windlass/pulpit.

[solanderi]

I am sure that the cover is why the pulpit looks so nice. I am jealous and need to get mine up to snuff. Thanks for the reply.