I recently had a minor disaster when a combination of events lead to the sinking of my Catalina 27 in the slip. I got about 29 inches of water inside the cabin. I successfully re-floated the boat and cleaned all the fiberglass. My question is what should I do about the cabinetry? The wood seems dried out but logic dictates that it should need some oil or varnish to help preserve the wood and prevent rot. Has anyone had a similar problem or have any suggestions as to what to rub/paint on the wood? Thanks for any suggestions.
Best method for preserving/restoring cabinet woods
- Thread starter cbarnhart53
- Start date
I think some more info is needed here. How long was it sunk? What does the wet wood look like compared to the good wood? What is your objective with the repair? Just Save the wood or make it look like it never happened?
The wood was submerged for less than 8 hours by my best estimate. The wood has dried out and has not appeared to have absorbed a lot of moisture. The wood that was submerged looks like the wood that was not submerged. The objective of the repair is to preserve the wood, not make it look new. The wood is rough to the touch like unfinished wood. I do not think it was varnished in the past.
In Kemah, it was salt water. No problems with rot in dry wood. Woodster has the answer if you don't want to varnish
I experienced a similar problem a while ago, further compounded by the fact that at the time of the incident, the engine was being repaired and the head had been removed. The seawater displaced all the dirty engine oil and distributed it all over the cabin. We quickly pumped out the boat, cleaned up the mess, and promptly dried the interior.
Light stripping with a de-greaser and refinishing of all the teak with 220 grit sandpaper removed 99% of the oil residue. Note that certain areas of teak (cabin sole, some cabinetry, etc. are veneer only (not solid) and care must be taken not to remove too much of the actual teak surface.
We then did four applications of teak oil over the subsequent 3 months.
As the boat is 30 years old, the resulting finish is actually better than what existed before the incident, and is very close to what the teak looked like when the boat was new.
Light stripping with a de-greaser and refinishing of all the teak with 220 grit sandpaper removed 99% of the oil residue. Note that certain areas of teak (cabin sole, some cabinetry, etc. are veneer only (not solid) and care must be taken not to remove too much of the actual teak surface.
We then did four applications of teak oil over the subsequent 3 months.
As the boat is 30 years old, the resulting finish is actually better than what existed before the incident, and is very close to what the teak looked like when the boat was new.
One thing you may want to consider, depending on the size & location of each individual piece: the edges & the backs of each piece. It may, or may not, be worth removing each one or some of them and checking. Good luck.
Sanding and teak oil sounds like the way to go. Thanks everyone for their input.
Glad to say the damage was very minimal and my boat is floating, repaired and sea worthy again. Anyone wanting to clean fiberglass surfaces after an incident like this, I highly recommend Scrubbing Bubbles lemon scent. It will clean all services, is an anti-bacterial, and leaves the boat smelling lemony fresh.
Glad to say the damage was very minimal and my boat is floating, repaired and sea worthy again. Anyone wanting to clean fiberglass surfaces after an incident like this, I highly recommend Scrubbing Bubbles lemon scent. It will clean all services, is an anti-bacterial, and leaves the boat smelling lemony fresh.