Head - Woodwork Varnish

Next up in our head rehab project was the re-finishing of the all the teak. Although the vanity, bench, lockers and all the trim looked fair from a few feet away, up close they were very shabby having been originally oiled from the factory but very infrequently, if ever, thereafter. 

There were a lot of dings, scratches and stains all over the place. The worst areas were the shower bench, the fiddle strips along the front of the vanity counter and the trim strip on the divider between the  stool and the shower bench. 

The hand-hold on the bulkhead and the fiddle above the stool were also really rough. They looked like they had been used by an infant crocodile as a teething aid!   

Sometime in the past the USCG documentation numbers had been stuck to the anchor locker bulkhead using self adhesive vinyl numbers 'sealed' with a couple of coats of  some sort of lacquer. Not the best location and no way were they permanent as required.  In the photo they don't look too bad but up close it was ugly! The numbers had lifted in several spots, the lacquer looked as if was wiped on with a rag and had yellowed with age. They had to go. The USCG compliant alternative we decided on will appear in a future post.

Although we had good results with re-oiling the interior of the vanity in the head, as part of our head-liner repair project, we felt that varnish was the way to go for the exterior of the vanity and the rest of the wood in the head as it would be getting wet on a regular basis. So, we were faced with a lot of cleaning, masking, sanding, filling, varnishing and sealing! Our only previous experience with varnish was with a two part product that we used on the cockpit table project detailed in a previous post. That product, Bristol Finish, gave good results but disappointed us due to what we felt was excessively long curing time. This time we decided to try something different and settled on Cetol Marine Natural Teak base with a top seal coat of Cetol Marine Gloss.

        


We used three, wet on wet, coats of the Marine Natural Teak base followed by a  little flatting with 320 grit Sandblaster pads and a single coat of the Marine Gloss to finish.

But first.....we had to clean all the wood using the WM one-step cleaner/brightener that did such a good job for us inside the vanity. After cleaning we taped the edges of everything so that we wouldn't scuff the gelcoat on the hull liner while we were sanding. The taping was a much bigger challenge than we had anticipated.....tight corners, compound curves and hidden edges all conspired to make it very time consuming.

After sanding with 180 followed by 220 production paper, another lengthy step, we wiped over with acetone and a tack rag and then started to apply the Cetol. We started with the foam 'brushes' we had used previously but changed to 'real' brushes after the first coat. The foam did a fair job on the larger areas   but wasn't as versatile as a good quality 1" brush when it came to the louvres and tricky corners on the trim strips.

When the sun was shining we could open the forward hatch and get good natural light. When the weather changed and we had to rely on artificial light it was really easy to miss spots in the shadows....which we did many times! (Looks like a trip to the Barber is in order, huh!) The repeated brush cleaning was a major PITA and we used a lot more acetone and cleaner but we felt the results were better.

Removing all the locker doors made things a bit easier but then we had a space problem!

Pretty soon the whole salon and galley had pieces and parts in varying stages of completion!

The louvres were a real challenge, trying to get good coverage without a lot of drips and sags. Fortunately, one crew member had the necessary patience and tenacity for the job!

After getting some sags and runs in the first coat on the door, applied while it was still hung, we got smart and took it off. Working on flat surfaces in good light made things much easier.

We totally underestimated the sheer time it would take do this job. Disregarding the time to actually coat and re-coat what is, in reality, just a few square feet of wood, the preparation alone took us around 45 hours spread over a week and a half. After a couple of weeks of back and forth to the boat every day we took a little break before going back to the grind.

Getting back on track, we persevered with the seemingly endless coating process....so we can now relate to the folk that paint the Golden Gate Bridge!

Looking back into the hanging locker area showing some of the weird shadow and light conditions that caused us to have several do-overs! 

Finally!!!!.....we got to pull all the tape off.....but even that was an epic. After sitting in place for almost three  weeks it had taken root and, despite us running round all the edges with an Exacto knife, it still lifted the edge of the varnish in several places as we peeled it back....more do-overs! We should have listened to the advice that we remove the tape while the coating is still green. But it was done. From start to finish was a full month!

We learned a lot on this project and when we get to the galley and companionway areas things should go a little faster and easier....at least we hope so! The next few pics show the results of our efforts. We will never get a job in a furniture restoration shop but things look pretty good and should hold up for the duration.