My husband does alot of restoring of old boats. Fill it will epoxy, sand and coat. Find it at west marine
Companionway Hatch Board Gap Filler
- Thread starter wonkodsane
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What about a decorative, contrasting thin strip of wood over the gap, glued to the top of the gap to allow for expansion. I know it isn't the right way to fix it but its cheep and dirty.
Filler Stain.
There is a product made specifically for this issue...
As a wood boat restorer, I know the importance of filler stain in filling gaps, cracks and grain prior to varnishing. It will be the preferred material of the gap is not too wide.
At 3/32 you are borderline, but I would be willing to bet that a proper color filler stain, mixed with some wood flour will do the trick.
Here is a link to the Dark Mahogany filler at West Marine:
http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wc...toreNum=10104&subdeptNum=10296&classNum=10300
Here is a link to the Jamestown Distributing page for the Pettit filler stain witha drop down menu showing all colors available:
http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/userportal/show_product.do?pid=6749
Filling with epoxy is a method I would avoid personally. While it will work mechanically, you get one shot on the color. Once it is in, it is in. ALso, an epoxy fill repair will be a lot harder than the surrounding teak material and will leave you with a raised spot if you are not extremely careful with scraping and sanding. Any method you use to try to flatten the epoxy will also work the adjacent wood, resulting in a raised epoxy ridge and a corresponding teak valley on either side.
I will not finish brightwork on any boat, sail or otherwise without filler stain. It is to me a necessary step.
For this situation, and knowing you plan on varnishing, (Cetol) all of the hatch boards, I personally would mix up some wood flour and filler stain and use it as a pre-colored filler. Once dried, I would be comfortable sanding flat with the surrounding teak, as it will be slightly softer. I would then use the filler stain alone to get a uniform stain coating for all of your hatch boards, and then use the Cetol process as described in your link. I really like Cetol, by the way...
These would be my recommendations for a repair that will be easiest to implement, will provide a uniform color prior to applying Cetol, and will also give you a flatter sealed surface to finish. The filled and stained boards will be less porous prior to application of Cetol, providing a smoother flatter finish with fewer finish coats.
There is a product made specifically for this issue...
As a wood boat restorer, I know the importance of filler stain in filling gaps, cracks and grain prior to varnishing. It will be the preferred material of the gap is not too wide.
At 3/32 you are borderline, but I would be willing to bet that a proper color filler stain, mixed with some wood flour will do the trick.
Here is a link to the Dark Mahogany filler at West Marine:
http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wc...toreNum=10104&subdeptNum=10296&classNum=10300
Here is a link to the Jamestown Distributing page for the Pettit filler stain witha drop down menu showing all colors available:
http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/userportal/show_product.do?pid=6749
Filling with epoxy is a method I would avoid personally. While it will work mechanically, you get one shot on the color. Once it is in, it is in. ALso, an epoxy fill repair will be a lot harder than the surrounding teak material and will leave you with a raised spot if you are not extremely careful with scraping and sanding. Any method you use to try to flatten the epoxy will also work the adjacent wood, resulting in a raised epoxy ridge and a corresponding teak valley on either side.
I will not finish brightwork on any boat, sail or otherwise without filler stain. It is to me a necessary step.
For this situation, and knowing you plan on varnishing, (Cetol) all of the hatch boards, I personally would mix up some wood flour and filler stain and use it as a pre-colored filler. Once dried, I would be comfortable sanding flat with the surrounding teak, as it will be slightly softer. I would then use the filler stain alone to get a uniform stain coating for all of your hatch boards, and then use the Cetol process as described in your link. I really like Cetol, by the way...
These would be my recommendations for a repair that will be easiest to implement, will provide a uniform color prior to applying Cetol, and will also give you a flatter sealed surface to finish. The filled and stained boards will be less porous prior to application of Cetol, providing a smoother flatter finish with fewer finish coats.
Used honey walnut (which is lighter, but a decent contrast) plastic wood to fill. It isn't perfect, but having already started by the time I saw philwsailz' post, it was too late to use filler stain.
Having said that, I am really pleased with how beautiful they turned out compared to what they were. DanM's Cetol post gave me some idea of what to expect but that stuff looks amazing compared to the trim strips elsewhere. You'll notice the strip above the sliding hatch has been redone as well.
My wife and I have been cleaning silicone sealant/caulk residue from our coaming boxes, as the teak for them is ready to be put back in place. The plan is to use sika 291 to secure them once the silicone mess is cleaned up.
I've also bought some of Maine Sail's Bed-It butyl rubber for rebedding the grab rails, which are also ready to go.
External teak-wise, that will leave two long strips of trim along the cabintop, a strip along the aft lazarette, the sliding hatch handle and trim, and the companionway hatch trim and sill, and the bowsprit, which will have to wait until she's on the hard this winter, when I plan on doing some mast work and fix the C30 compression post squish.
Thank you!
Another project for the winter will be a navpod and I should be able to afford some new instruments by then. Going to put sunbrella line bags on the back of the cabin for a cleaner look. My buddy with the 42' Catalina has them and it is really nice how much easier it is to organize lines when they're in place.
Another project for the winter will be a navpod and I should be able to afford some new instruments by then. Going to put sunbrella line bags on the back of the cabin for a cleaner look. My buddy with the 42' Catalina has them and it is really nice how much easier it is to organize lines when they're in place.
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