How is the companion way trim boards "crib board track" attached ? I cant find it any where. Also wood or plastic?
companion way trim
- Thread starter piedpiperIII
- Start date
yes it does I was thinking that was how but I wasn't ready to experiment just wanted to make new trim boards for now all my wood work is really bad any way. thank you
I removed mine for the first time and refinished over the winter. Pretty straight forward removal and install. I separated the screws for each piece of trim and marked them so they went back into the same holes as to avoid and issues with different size screws from a PO.
When you reinstall I would suggest butyl tape for proper bedding and the best water-tight seal. The PO of my boat used silicone and it was not only ineffective, it was also messy. On the exterior teak I opted to seal with epoxy first, sand, and then varnish. Cetol is a waste of money and time now that I have some experience with it, especially on exterior teak.
Luke,
I've never heard of that technique.
What happens when the varnish fails or simply needs to be touched up ?
What are the pro and cons ?
I'm (maybe "was".. hehe) planning to simply varnish mine.
Some people suggested Cetol or something similar, but I figure that occasionally applying a coat of varnish is much better that dealing with something like Cetol when the finish fails completely.
Cheers,
Roy
This method is very common with canoes and kayaks built with cedar strip and epoxy, it is also common on very high end brightwork on 'bristol' finished yachts.
- Whatever wood you are finishing, being teak or another hardwood, will soak up a fair amount of varnish into the grain before you start getting to coats that will smooth out. In the case of kayaks and canoes built in cedar strip, rolling out the exterior in epoxy and a single layer of 6oz glass is part of the build process anyhow.
- Epoxy will yellow, crack, and degrade in UV so it needs several coats of UV protectant varnish. When you begin the varnish coats over a wood surface that has a sanded smooth layer of epoxy (usually 2 coats) it ultimately takes fewer coats to achieve a level 'smooth as glass' varnish layer. I've never used 'less' coats of varnish, you want as much UV protection as possible, but starting with a smoother base coat gives you a more level surface to begin with = greater control and less sanding to achieve a brilliant finish.
- Like any exposed brightwork you have to monitor its condition and lightly sand and apply new coats when needed. If you neglect it and the UV damage penetrates the varnish coat and yellows the epoxy layer you are screwed... lots more work to strip back to bare wood again.
- At the end of the day the epoxy coating, if properly looked after, saves you hours of work in the eventual recoats. It also waterproofs the wood better.
On my C-22, since the hand-rails are gone and so are the teak trim around the cockpit storage pockets (I have the white plastic ones now), the only brightwork left to protect will be the crib-boards and companion way trim. That stuff will be protected by the cabin cover when not sailing. I'm figuring 2 years, depending on how much sailing I get done, until I have to apply a few fresh coats of Epiphanes.
Honestly, the biggest reason I decided to this on my exterior teak was because after all my repair work to the bottom and the keel I ended up purchasing 5 gallons of epoxy. With all the major repairs complete I have 1/2 gallon remaining and nothing left to use it on besides this. Also, the age and weather damage to my teak left some pretty deep recesses in the grain which are not all gone with heavy sanding. The epoxy will greatly help level out the surfaces.
- Whatever wood you are finishing, being teak or another hardwood, will soak up a fair amount of varnish into the grain before you start getting to coats that will smooth out. In the case of kayaks and canoes built in cedar strip, rolling out the exterior in epoxy and a single layer of 6oz glass is part of the build process anyhow.
- Epoxy will yellow, crack, and degrade in UV so it needs several coats of UV protectant varnish. When you begin the varnish coats over a wood surface that has a sanded smooth layer of epoxy (usually 2 coats) it ultimately takes fewer coats to achieve a level 'smooth as glass' varnish layer. I've never used 'less' coats of varnish, you want as much UV protection as possible, but starting with a smoother base coat gives you a more level surface to begin with = greater control and less sanding to achieve a brilliant finish.
- Like any exposed brightwork you have to monitor its condition and lightly sand and apply new coats when needed. If you neglect it and the UV damage penetrates the varnish coat and yellows the epoxy layer you are screwed... lots more work to strip back to bare wood again.
- At the end of the day the epoxy coating, if properly looked after, saves you hours of work in the eventual recoats. It also waterproofs the wood better.
On my C-22, since the hand-rails are gone and so are the teak trim around the cockpit storage pockets (I have the white plastic ones now), the only brightwork left to protect will be the crib-boards and companion way trim. That stuff will be protected by the cabin cover when not sailing. I'm figuring 2 years, depending on how much sailing I get done, until I have to apply a few fresh coats of Epiphanes.
Honestly, the biggest reason I decided to this on my exterior teak was because after all my repair work to the bottom and the keel I ended up purchasing 5 gallons of epoxy. With all the major repairs complete I have 1/2 gallon remaining and nothing left to use it on besides this. Also, the age and weather damage to my teak left some pretty deep recesses in the grain which are not all gone with heavy sanding. The epoxy will greatly help level out the surfaces.
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Luke,
That makes sense.
I've done the typical "multiple coats of thinned varnish to fill the pores of the wood" before, but your epoxy idea would save time.
Keeping up with maintenance is always the trick. No matter which wood finish you use, it always seems to be a "pay now or pay more later" situation.
If left too long...
I assume that sanding any yellowed epoxy away would be more work then if it was simply a pile of coats of varnish ? I've never had the "pleasure" of sanding wood with an epoxy sealing coat, so I'm guessing.
That makes sense.
I've done the typical "multiple coats of thinned varnish to fill the pores of the wood" before, but your epoxy idea would save time.
Keeping up with maintenance is always the trick. No matter which wood finish you use, it always seems to be a "pay now or pay more later" situation.
If left too long...
I assume that sanding any yellowed epoxy away would be more work then if it was simply a pile of coats of varnish ? I've never had the "pleasure" of sanding wood with an epoxy sealing coat, so I'm guessing.
Hopefully you never get to the point where you have to sand away any yellowed or cracked epoxy. Once the varnish coat starts to show signs of fatigue its a quick and light sand before adding your fresh coat of varnish. If the overall surface is level and smooth then it's easier, I've done it with just a medium (red) scotch brite pad.
Absolutely, that's the way most people do it. Only when exterior wood is in really bad shape would anyone want to completely remove it because then you'd have to re-bed it.
If the teak is grey, checked, has deep recesses between grain, and/or the bedding is compromised then you need to consider completely taking all the exterior wood off. On a C22 this can be accomplished in a weekend with a helper. Remove the old bedding compound, do a really good sanding starting with 80 and then go to 120 grit. You may want to bleach the teak, but I never have, I like the 'salty' look. You can go with just varnish which is fine, or you can epoxy and varnish over (but that might add a few days to the job). Then re-bed and reinstall all the varnished teak.
If your teak is pretty fair shape and the bedding is still intact and water tight just use some blue tape to mask off the wood. Lightly sand as needed to remove any loose or flaking varnish, 180 to 220 works well. You can follow that with a red scotch brite pad, basically everything should be 'dull'. Unless you get down to bare wood you don't need to thin the varnish, just use a fairly decent brush (not an expensive one, but not a cheap chip brush). put on at least two coats, if not three.
If the teak is grey, checked, has deep recesses between grain, and/or the bedding is compromised then you need to consider completely taking all the exterior wood off. On a C22 this can be accomplished in a weekend with a helper. Remove the old bedding compound, do a really good sanding starting with 80 and then go to 120 grit. You may want to bleach the teak, but I never have, I like the 'salty' look. You can go with just varnish which is fine, or you can epoxy and varnish over (but that might add a few days to the job). Then re-bed and reinstall all the varnished teak.
If your teak is pretty fair shape and the bedding is still intact and water tight just use some blue tape to mask off the wood. Lightly sand as needed to remove any loose or flaking varnish, 180 to 220 works well. You can follow that with a red scotch brite pad, basically everything should be 'dull'. Unless you get down to bare wood you don't need to thin the varnish, just use a fairly decent brush (not an expensive one, but not a cheap chip brush). put on at least two coats, if not three.
If forgot to mention potential pitfalls of varnishing in-place;
- If its hot outside its miserable working in the sun, plus it reduces your working time on the varnish - Don't over brush it.
- Epiphanes is very thick, like I said you don't need to thin it if you are just over-coating for a refresh. With that said its easy to apply it too thick and on vertical surfaces you could end up with sags.
- You are at the mercy of the weather. If its cool or humid it will be several hours before you can over-coat. In ideal conditions you can overcoat in about 4 to 5 hours, you don't need to sand between coats if less than 24 hours between coats (chemical bond vs mechanical bond).
- Just mask off with tape carefully and don't be afraid to use a roll of brown paper. Avoid getting the varnish on anything that's not teak and avoid spills.
You can control a lot of factors if you can haul out onto your trailer to do the job. The good news is you can do the crib boards on a table which leaves not too much installed square footage of teak to have to varnish in place.
- If its hot outside its miserable working in the sun, plus it reduces your working time on the varnish - Don't over brush it.
- Epiphanes is very thick, like I said you don't need to thin it if you are just over-coating for a refresh. With that said its easy to apply it too thick and on vertical surfaces you could end up with sags.
- You are at the mercy of the weather. If its cool or humid it will be several hours before you can over-coat. In ideal conditions you can overcoat in about 4 to 5 hours, you don't need to sand between coats if less than 24 hours between coats (chemical bond vs mechanical bond).
- Just mask off with tape carefully and don't be afraid to use a roll of brown paper. Avoid getting the varnish on anything that's not teak and avoid spills.
You can control a lot of factors if you can haul out onto your trailer to do the job. The good news is you can do the crib boards on a table which leaves not too much installed square footage of teak to have to varnish in place.
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