Best finish for cabin sole

[JonnyBoats]

What is the best finish for a teak and holly cabin sole? Is Ultimate Sole http://www.ultimatesole.com/index.asp?ID=10 a good choice?

[Quetzalsailor]

John,
I used ordinary exterior satin urethane, on epoxy coating/encapsulation, on the new teak sole I put into our old Morgan 27 (the sole was bonded directly to the hull; there is no bilge in a Morgan 27). I think LeComte used spar varnish in our boats but he hand rubbed the surface with pumice for that uniform satin texture. If you have a bit of sole which is undamaged and un-recoated, compare it with a piece of undamaged cabinet work. You will see that they look the same, like mine do.

Urethane is tougher but consequently harder to repair later. I had to reglue some of my sole boards at broken joints and cracks. I have not refinished any of it, yet, except for that little step. I used the urethane there and it looks fine with the hand rubbed LeComte work.

D

[CharlieJ]

I've no personal experience with Ultimate Sole, but I've heard some very good things about it from those who HAVE used it.

I wouldn't be afraid to use it on a sole. I'd sure not use gloss varnish.

Ours is teak and is done only with orange oil by the way.

[Mike E]

Still looking for the delete button.......?????

[Mike E]

When finishing the sole how do you handle the use of anti-slip additives while still getting a bristol finish?

Michael
SV Se Langt

[Rachel]

Mike, I believe the whole point of Ultimate Sole is that while it looks/is glossy it is also non-slip. I would imagine the glossiness would make it easy to clean as well, (but have not used it myself).

Rachel