Cabin interior work.

TomY

Alden Forum Moderator
Jun 22, 2004
2,758
Alden 38' Challenger yawl Rockport Harbor
Cold and wet spring weather in Maine is making boat work, tedious. I've taken advantage of it and stripped the cabin in the vee berth, something I've put off for years. A heat gun and various scrapers, used carefully, removed what I suspect is the original varnish plus some added coats, in not too much time.





Faced with sanding the -now rough- surface, I used a Fein multi tool(connected to a dust extractor) with a 4.5" round, and the corner pad, with 80 grit paper followed by a fast pass with 120 grit. This took care of most of the sanding, the rest-especially the concave handholds-I did by hand with the same grits. Next step: 2 coats of slightly diluted varnish(10-15% thinner) with no sanding between coats.

After a couple days of drying, I again used the Fein tool with 120 followed by 180 grit paper, on a slow rpm. When finished, it looked like I'd taken the varnish off(not so, it's in the grain). I followed that step with a coat of un-diluted varnish. Once dry, a vigorous rub with a 3M brown pad(equivalent to 1200 grit paper) and brushed on a 4th coat of varnish, and took this photo. I'll add one more coat as the weather is still nasty but it's good enough now(no UV problem below).

The builders had access to such beautiful wood to build these boats. The wood is a joy to restore.