teak and holly floor
I work for a small production boat builder "Tomco Marine Group" we build American Tugs. We install hard wood soles. Sapele, jatoba, maple and teak. We sand the installed floor with 80 grit, 120, 180 then 220.Then we use a wipe-on poly urethane for a first coat resand lightly with 220, wipe with mineral spirits and start applying coats of a brush-on poly urethane as well. Probably 3 - 4 coats. its very durable and looks great. We are very careful about dust and lint. We usually apply the finish coats after the boats are launched and the traffic is to a minimum. The flooring is 3/8" thick so in the unfortunate case of dropping any tools we can sand the whole thing and start over. That doesn't happen often but it has happened. I'm sure there is alot of different methods and materials used for such a task. The guys I work with have found this method to be the best for what we need.
I installed a 3/8" plywood panelling on the sole of Island Bird my E-41, that has the appearance of a solid mahogany and holly floor. The top visible laminate is probably 1/8"" thich so it can be wet ironed and sanded to remove any dents or dings its softer than solid wood but its not in the high traffic area. I finished it in the described way above. The previous owner painted the entire sole with a two part enamel paint and its slicker than ...well you know. I made a carpet runner for the rest of the floor ( i know carpet doesnt belong in a boat but its removeable and when I sail off to warmer climates I'll finish the rest of the sole with the same panelling) We used the panelling in our earlier boats with few problems( ive done some warranty work on the older boats and they have held up) I would imagine your sole is solid and therefor you could sand the old finish off and refinish it. For the sand I'm not sure iv ever heard of anyone using sand as a nonskid over a nice teak and holly floor. It seems that socks would be the only thing that would slide across it.
