woodwork

centerline · Nov 27, 2014

refinishing the wood work (brightwork) every couple of years should only entail a quick sanding with a coarse scotch brite pad and a coat of varnish, which is fast and easy to do... the masking takes longer than the finishing.

the problems associated with brightwork is when you have a LOT of it, and when it becomes rundown due to lack of simple maintainance every few years... then it becomes an unwanted chore.

the only requirement necessary for the simple maintenance is that the britework must have a good base coat and be in decent condition to begin with... you then only need to remove the sun damaged layer and roughen the surface which can be done with simple wiping motions with the scotch bright pad, and then paint on a coat of varnish. if you mask it before sanding, the tape will protect the deck and hardware...
never let it go so long that the damage gets into the base coat and the upkeep is easy.

and there are three other options...

1.... leave it as it is forever.
2.... sand it all off and leave the wood bare forever.
3.... remove the wood and make plastic replicas to put in place of the wood.

all options are used by boaters everywhere, so whatever you decide to do is only a matter of preference to where you want to put your efforts, and how you want it to look

...

$tingy Sailor · Nov 27, 2014

I don't have a long-term opinion yet, but I like the way Epifanes Clear High-Gloss Varnish has worked for me so far. It goes on thick, smooth, and cures hard. My boat is stored indoors between cruises, so I expect it to last a very long time. YMMV.

You can read about the whole process that I used, including bleaching, in Exterior teak restoration on my blog.

centerline · Nov 27, 2014

I also prefer the epifanes.... west marine has epifanes packaged under their west marine brand name, that comes on sale at a great discount sometimes... less that 50% of the regular epifanes brand price..

CaptDon01 · Nov 27, 2014

Simple solution.....get a MK-II, no exterior wood except for the tiller. Rinse it off and walk away. :dance:

Seriously, the original and new designs have just enough wood to make them pretty, but it does take some time. What I ended up doing on our original C-22 was to saturate all the exterior wood with WEST epoxy. Sand it smooth, and apply another coat,(to all sides, especially the bottom or back sides). The epoxy needs to be protected with some type of UV filter, so I applied several coats of a good exterior marine varnish. Throughout the years I've used Epifanes also, but for no real reason, always seemed to end up back with one of the Interlux varnishes. It was a BIG job initially, but the wood would look beautiful for a couple years. Then a light sanding and a fresh top coat of varnish and I was good to go for another couple years. One area where this really worked great was the teak trim rings on the cockpit combings. The epoxy really strengthened them and they held up great with the high volume of use they received.

I'm not against wood, but it's a lot less maintenance on the inside.

By the way Ken, that's some pretty wood, and that's the nicest, cleanest pin board lock I've seen!

Don

Ralph Johnstone · Nov 27, 2014

If You've Got the Time ...........................

kgindling said:
I don't want to refinnish my woodwork every couple of years.

..................... to do a careful prep job, varnished epoxy will last a loooooooong time.

These stern seats were done (five coats of epoxy and three of varnish) back in 2009 and still look like wet varnish today. The stairs were done using glass cloth for extra durability and still look the same today.

The only problem with epoxy over teak is that it's an indoor job to ensure the wood is absolutely dry before application begins.

Download the System Three epoxy manual for everything you ever wanted to know about epoxy. I only mention System Three as their manual is extensive. All clear epoxies will ultimately do the same job.

RJD · Nov 28, 2014

I have to cast my vote for Epifanes. Here's a picture of the crib boards after being exposed to the elements for two years.

pateco · Nov 28, 2014

Still in the middle of doing the woodwork on my Hunter 31 (1983) Below are some pictures of redoing the entry stairs. They were cracked with really worn out finish.

even the backing board was rotten.

Cut a new backing board and then finished it with stain and 6 coats of Minwax Helmsman Spar Urethane.

I used rubbing compound to polish the stainless. New backer board with polished stainless.

Sanded the steps, and epoxied back together.

First coats of new varnish:

Cut some heavy stainless reinforcements out of an old kitchen sink that I bought at Habitat Restore for $20. Now the steps wont split again.

Finished stairs:

Check out the complete restoration project at: The Stargazer Adventure

centerline · Nov 28, 2014

Ralph Johnstone said:
..................... to do a careful prep job, varnished epoxy will last a loooooooong time.

The only problem with epoxy over teak is that it's an indoor job to ensure the wood is absolutely dry before application begins.

i have used varnish over epoxy on the interior wood on many boats ive owned, and with excellent, long life results without having to do any maintenance on it, and it DOES remain shiny over the years... but I have not yet used the method on exterior wood.

but no matter where its used, I would pay the extra for the marine grade epoxy, which is basically epoxy formulated without the amine blush that you get with the cheaper epoxies, preferred would be the non yellowing type, which is also called "bar top" epoxy, but is usually even more expensive than marine epoxy...

kenai · Nov 28, 2014

I bought my 85 Catalina a couple years ago and I had the same question. In my case however, the prior owner left it out for a couple of years and didn't do anything so I needed to take it all the way down. I took everything off the boat in the winter, sanded it down to wood and then put 10 coats of Awl Spar marine varnish on everything. It is a quick dry varnish with a beautiful finish. I then invested in getting a Sunbrella cover that goes over the cabin and main entry. It fits on the snaps that are already there for the poptop cover. Now when I leave the boat the wood is protected and always looks fantastic. I plan on doing a simple maintenance coat with the wood on the boat this next spring. The cover was a couple hundred bucks, but i would recommend it if you want to keep your brightwork in good shape.

CloudDiver · Nov 29, 2014

I'm going to have to go through this exercise with all of my woodwork as well. I will probably use the Epifanes under the West Marine label. I wouldn't recommend the Minwax Helmsman for anything but interior varnish. It does not hold up well to UV exposure compared to higher quality marine varnishes, I know because I used it extensively on refinishing my wood hot-tub body and pergola, it barley lasted 18 months. I'm sure multiple coats would hold up fine on the interior woodwork of a C22 for many years.

Now the epoxy followed by varnish is a solid method that will result in very long lasting finish, but this comes in a very great investment in labor and materials. I'd venture to say its just not worth it on a C22, while it should be standard practice on large & expensive yachts. The cost of the epoxy is one thing, but it is the hardener that tips the scale. The special hardeners (system 3 or West System) that allow the resin to dry clear are twice as expensive as standard fast or slow cure catalysts. Couple that with the time spent applying several coats, sanding, and then an expensive UV stabilized varnish on top.... Wow. Just Varnish the exterior wood and keep it covered when possible. If you you keep a close eye on it over the seasons and refinish it before the varnish cracks and flakes down to bare wood you'll do fine. Also, some key ares like the trim rings in the cockpit and the sliding rails for the companion way hatch, its likely worth it to replace them with the plastic version from CD.

centerline · Nov 29, 2014

CloudDiver said:
I will probably use the Epifanes under the West Marine label. I wouldn't recommend the Minwax Helmsman for anything but interior varnish. It does not hold up well to UV exposure.

Now the epoxy followed by varnish is a solid method that will result in very long lasting finish, but this comes in a very great investment in labor and materials. I'd venture to say its just not worth it on a C22, while it should be standard practice on large & expensive yachts. The cost of the epoxy is one thing, but it is the hardener that tips the scale. The special hardeners (system 3 or West System) that allow the resin to dry clear are twice as expensive as standard fast or slow cure catalysts. Couple that with the time spent applying several coats, sanding, and then an expensive UV stabilized varnish on top....

The epoxy base coat is only a base coat.... there is no need for more than two coats to completly seal the wood when its going to be overcoated with varnish any way.

And it is NOT preferred to have more than two coats because in the event that it ever needs to be sanded down, the top coats will all have to be removed, whereas once you get to the wood itself, even if it has been saturated with epoxy, you dont need o sand any further..

you should prep the wood, apply a coat of epoxy... when it sets, lightly sand it, then apply a second coat... let it cure, then lightly scuff it with a scotchbrite pad.... the apply the varnish.... as many coats as you want, but when applying over epoxied wood, two coats is plenty, as the maintenance coats will slowly build up over the years...

All that you want to do withthe epoxy is create a hard smooth surface to apply the varnish to... nothing more.

woodwork

kgindling

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centerline

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kgindling

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$tingy Sailor

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centerline

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CaptDon01

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Ralph Johnstone

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Attachments

RJD

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pateco

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centerline

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kenai

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CloudDiver

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centerline

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