So, there we were, another happy hour in the cockpit of The Fox. Jake and Vicky, recently having sailed their Malö 41 Maloose in to La Paz from Los Angeles, were with us. We had a grand time munching on scallop ceviche, crackers, totopos (tortilla chips) and salsa verde. Also, wine was involved. Red wine.
We had no big spills or accidents, because certainly none of us are sloppy partiers. There were just a couple of small slop-overs you'd expect from any happy hour in the cockpit. Nevertheless, red wine on teak is a non-good thing, and makes a permanent stain if not attended to. I wasn't worried as I have ways to clean red wine off of teak. All of which are either labor-intensive (e.g., Oxy-Clean followed by many flushes of fresh water which unfortunately leaches the natural oils out of the teak) or expensive (flush the red wine stain with white champagne – works like a charm). However, Jake, having himself a Malö with teak decks, remarked, "Teak loves salt water. Flush the red wine stains with salt water and they'll come right out. Salt water takes out other stains, too; and keeps the teak looking nice."
I should have learned this already, since the periodic salt baths The Fox's foredeck gets while underway has kept the teak there clean; but for red wine stains? In the cockpit? I was skeptical. It would be way too simple and handy to keep a cruising sailboat's teak spotless with periodic rinses of salt water. But, there was nothing to lose. Plus, sometimes Jake can be a real smart guy so after happy hour wound down I gave the affected area of teak a nice salt bath just to see what happened.
And the red wine stains disappeared. Instantly.
Being the cockpit and all, I followed with a fresh water flush, the better to not track in salt belowdecks, but I tell you what: from now on I'm going to be giving all the teak on The Fox – cockpit, topsides, and all the decks - nice salt water baths on a more regular basis. Just to keep things uniformly tidy.
Thanks, Jake!
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