I'm in the middle of this project now. I'm happy to share my experiences, for what they are worth (I don't consider myself much of a woodworker or varnishing guru).tnltracy wrote:Hi Ed,Ereiss wrote:1.
4. Would love to have cabin sole refinished but budget may not again allow it. Don't have garage or basement (live in condo) so DYI not in the cards.
Did you previously refinish the cabin sole? I'm looking into recommended approach as they're pretty beat up and need it. I thi8nk You had posted a few years back with a recommended varnish finish for the wood and would love to hear how it worked.
First question, where to do it? I'm lucky, unlike my previous boat where the floor was glued in place, all of my floorboards unscrewed easily. I have both a garage for sanding and a basement for stripping and painting. The experts say don't paint where you sand, makes sense.
Next, how to strip? Everything I read (including an informative blog post from Dakota Marine Services that Google will find for you) discouraged trying to sand old varnish off of veneered boards. Too much risk of sanding right through. Most experts recommend using a heat gun and scraper. I did not go that route, as I don't trust myself with most power tools, was afraid of damaging the veneer or melting the glue, and didn't want to breath the fumes.
That left chemical methods. I used a "non-toxic" product called Citristip. No strong smell, just faintly citrus not even noticed by the family upstairs in the living area.The old varnish came up easily after an hour or so after application with a plastic putty knife. The residue makes a pretty good mess. The label says you can leave it on for up to 24 hours without drying out but in my experience even 2 hours is too long. When it dries out it turns white and chalky. Probably not a problem with hardwoods, but the teak is quite soft and grainy so it left behind some residue. An internet search turned up a furniture re-finisher who had the same problem. She recommended denatured alcohol to remove it and it worked quite well. You may need to use a scotch brite pad or bronze wool to get in the grain.
Hand sanding to smooth finish, 80 grit, 150 grit, 220 grit. They say to make it feel like glass. I'd like to think I got close.
Repairs to the wood? I had numerous small dings and a few the size of a pea. My research said to fill them with clear epoxy. This did not turn out so well. I ended up with more epoxy than needed in each hole and sanding it level eats up a lot of the surrounding wood. Unless you have some substantial dings I would skip this step, or try something like plastic wood if you can match the color. You are going to get more dings anyway, they add character I'm told.
Next, what product to use? I ruled out traditional varnish right away. My application skills are poor, and having a dog aboard I wanted something hard and durable. On my last boat I used a 2 part polyurethane from Bristol Finish they call Traditional Amber. I like it very much, but the fumes almost killed me even with a respirator. So this time I used their water based urethane called Classic Clear. They say it can be used on gym floors so I figured it should hold up pretty well to my dog's nails. They also claim it is not slippery underfoot which is a huge plus. Finally, it has no smell. It looks like skim milk coming out of the container.
They claim it dries in an hour at 70 degrees and you can re-coat without sanding if you do so within 4 hours. Drying time in my basement is at least 90 minutes. I am sanding between most coats because I usually end up with a few small bubbles on each board. So far I have 4 coats on some of the boards and I'm very happy with it. I'm shooting for 6 coats. If anyone wants to see pictures let me know, I'll try to post some before and afters if I can figure that out. Edit--had a request for pics, see below. Will add more in next post. Pics in boat are before, others are after 6 coats. Planning on one more very thin finish coat after a final sanding to smooth out some high spots. May thin it with water. Using a foam brush and now able to avoid sanding between coats except for last coat.
This approach may work for you. It is low tech for sure, but you really can't screw it up too bad. And if you do worst case is you take it to a pro where you will pay 20 times the cost of your materials for a pro job. I figure I will have about 50 hours into it by the time I'm done.
Hope this helps!