It may be that under the varnish there are one or two coats of clear coat Epoxy Resin such as West 207 Hardener used with 105 base. This is often used prior to applying the varnish. Instead of applying ten coats of varnish, you apply the epoxy, then just a few coats of a good grade of varnish. However, if this is the case stripper will not work. Sanding is the best option. If you can preserve the base, you may only need four or five coats of varnish. This should be a very simple process on hatch boards.Good strippers are indeed hard to find.
I'm working on my hatch boards right now and am up against some TOUGH varnish!
I started with a water based stripper and it had no effect. I then looked for a thick gel type chemical stripper. Not stripeese but a similar brand Lowes had. Looked for the strongest I could find. It stlll took three times and then final sanding to remove it all. Not sure if varnish is stronger or stripper is weaker than when I was a kid. There are also strippers for flooring mastic etc that may be even stronger, if anyone has knowledge there.
I did get some shaped scrapers and may give that a try next time instead of varnish. Moving on to handrails and toe rails next.
Best stripper
- Thread starter twdevore
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By far the best stripper I've ever used is Star 10 (www.starten.com).
It comes as a gel that you put on and let sit awhile, then scrape off with a putty knife.
There's also a liquid...I recommend buying their spray bottle since most plastic bottles won't tolerate the chemicals. Use the liquid for clean up and small places.
It's kind of pricey, but I don't waste my money on any other stripper for doing anything anymore.
It comes as a gel that you put on and let sit awhile, then scrape off with a putty knife.
There's also a liquid...I recommend buying their spray bottle since most plastic bottles won't tolerate the chemicals. Use the liquid for clean up and small places.
It's kind of pricey, but I don't waste my money on any other stripper for doing anything anymore.
We did that for the first time when refacing the kitchen cabinets. Stripping would have been too messy. We sanded the face frames of all the cabinets and made new doors and drawer fronts. We used a Festool RO 90 DX and vac. I was surprised how fast it went and there was practically no dust to clean up afterward.
But I would be hesitant to do this on veneered surfaces. You could easily sand through the veneer.
The ultimate paint stripper
I find that a good sharp one inch Red Devil scraper works the best. The process can be somewhat tedious but you can attain a great deal of precision and there are few disposal issues. Lots of luck with the project and that is why my boat is totally devoid of exterior wood.
I find that a good sharp one inch Red Devil scraper works the best. The process can be somewhat tedious but you can attain a great deal of precision and there are few disposal issues. Lots of luck with the project and that is why my boat is totally devoid of exterior wood.
Re: The ultimate paint stripper
For the hatch boards I've laid them on the ground and used a belt sander with a 150 grit belt and finished both sides of three boards in about 15 minutes. Three coats of natural teak Cetol and they look great. The curved wood surfaces don't lend them selves to this so I used stripper and a wire brush which cuts through the softer grain of the teak and leaves it deeply grooved but clean. It then tales lots of Cetol with sanding between coats to get the grooves out. Next time I would forget the wire brush and use sand paper or steel wool.
For the hatch boards I've laid them on the ground and used a belt sander with a 150 grit belt and finished both sides of three boards in about 15 minutes. Three coats of natural teak Cetol and they look great. The curved wood surfaces don't lend them selves to this so I used stripper and a wire brush which cuts through the softer grain of the teak and leaves it deeply grooved but clean. It then tales lots of Cetol with sanding between coats to get the grooves out. Next time I would forget the wire brush and use sand paper or steel wool.
Here is a product that was used on a wooden boat successfully at Sailing Emporium in Rock Hall MD.
http://www.sailingemporium.com/pdf/XAPA.pdf
http://www.sailingemporium.com/pdf/XAPA.pdf
By far the best method, based upon effectiveness and lack of mess that we have found, since 1964, is to soften the paint or varnish with a heat gun and wipe it off with a sharp hook scraper. The peelings dry quickly and are easy to vacuum up. In the difficult places like under the grips of a handrail or interior corners, a sharp knife used as a scraper does the job. It is most satisfying to cleanly peel off long strips of coating with one stroke. As you get good at it, you can follow with the scraper right behind the heat gun in one continuous motion. Use only enough heat to soften the coating; the sharper the scraper, the less heat required.
FWIW, Geohan
I recently used West Marine's "Marine Paint Remover" to remove Cetol from the non-skid on my C30 (apparently the PO didn't believe in masking tape). It's in a nice gel, so I applied it with a small paint brush. It took 2 applications, and some scrubbing with a stiff brush to get into the non-skid, but it completely removed the residue without softening the gelcoat.
All the talk of using scrapers on you boat has got me thinking I have to warn the new to scraping anything guys. (I've painted for over 20 years and seen some crazy damage from scrapers that can be avoided.)
Yes keep your scraper SHARP! But round over the edges a bit. Just so the super sharp edge doesn't dig into the gel coat if you apply the wrong pressure or slip. One slip could give you a 1/8" deep scratch! Even deeper if you put your back into it! Always pull it towards you. Never push!
A angle grinder and metal file is great for sharpening and tuning your scraper. For the times you want a sharp edge to get into a tight corner... Keep 1 blade with the factory sharp edge. It's really handy to have about 6 blades per person (and or scraper size) if you have a bunch of people helping. You can quickly switch out blades when you can't tune it with a file easily and sharpen them all at lunch and the end of the day.
Wear a respirator and eye protection! Remember you want to live to sail the thing.
Yes keep your scraper SHARP! But round over the edges a bit. Just so the super sharp edge doesn't dig into the gel coat if you apply the wrong pressure or slip. One slip could give you a 1/8" deep scratch! Even deeper if you put your back into it! Always pull it towards you. Never push!
A angle grinder and metal file is great for sharpening and tuning your scraper. For the times you want a sharp edge to get into a tight corner... Keep 1 blade with the factory sharp edge. It's really handy to have about 6 blades per person (and or scraper size) if you have a bunch of people helping. You can quickly switch out blades when you can't tune it with a file easily and sharpen them all at lunch and the end of the day.
Wear a respirator and eye protection! Remember you want to live to sail the thing.
I used a soy based stripper from West Marine, followed the guidelines saying to slow down evaporation and enhance the effectiveness of the product by wrapping the surfaces with plastic food wrap (not easy but doable) and after 4 hours sprayed it all off. It took almost everything without leaving a mess on the gelcoat and then did a light sanding. I went this way because I had a torn rotator cuff and hand sanding was out of the question and I think the results were just fine.
One word...reducer. Good old sand paper. Start out medium grit and work your way down till all the gray is gone. Get a couple of good orbitals: one round one for the larger areas and one shaped like a clothing iron with a tip to get into small areas. It will go faster than you think and if you can remove the teak so much the better. Wipe it with a tack (sp) cloth and apply the finish of your choice.
slapped it on thick with a large paint brush. 4" wide or something close. then i rolled saran wrap on top and let it sit for 4-5 hours. directions say 12, but that is to long. then used a 6 in one paint tool/scraper and peeled it of. had to do it twice, then sanded with 80 grit on a cheap dewalt oribital sander to get any remaining bottom paint off. worked very good. put a blue tarp down, my drive way paid the price.
Finally got to work on my project this week. I guess I had Cetol rather than varnish. I sanded all the wood after removing the caulking. Then I used the Franmar stripper liberally and covered it with plastic to keep the stripper moist per instructions. I let it sit several hours and then took a soft brush and scrubbed off the finish with lots of water. I am amazed how nicely the teak came out. The stripper even pulled the color of the Cetol. I'm going to give it a light sand and then get on with recaulking and oiling. I'm very happy with the stripper. I've used a lot of paint strippers and am thoroughly impressed
The floor of the cockpit is what the seats looked like. I tried to post more pics.
The floor of the cockpit is what the seats looked like. I tried to post more pics.
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I guess that Cetol is easier to remove than varnish?
After my stripping, I am going back now and re-varnishing my hatchboards with Le Tonkinois. So far it is going on thick, flowing well, and looks good, however I haven't done any varnishing in decades and thus have no basis for comparison. Maybe I'll post some photos in a new thread so as not to derail this one.
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