Hello sailors! This is my very first post on this forum, so please excuse any mistakes I make here.
My wife and I own an Express 34 (S/V Wild Thing) in Seward, Alaska, which we bought back in 2021. Beautifully taken care of boat, and we really wanted to keep the high standard of maintenance that the previous owners had. I don't have pictures of the flooring in particular from when we bought it, but it was in pretty good condition. Here's a couple of photos that have some floor in them from 2021:
The flooring style seems similar to the Hunter 340 in this post: refinishing cabin foor boards
Looking at the original brochure from the Express 34, I'm guessing that it's a combination of white oak and ash, not teak. https://express34.wordpress.com/express-34-color-brochure/
More recent picture, but the floor seems to be constructed of veneer on plywood:
So - now we're 4 seasons in and the floor is really starting to show signs of age. There's scratches, water intrusion, etc. You can guess from the picture above that we decided to pull the whole floor out this winter and take it home to refinish. It's still pretty smooth (except for the scratches) but is starting to look ugly:
So - here's the question. What advice do our fellow sailors have for the strategy to refinish this floor? Please talk to me like an absolute beginner.
I have a friend who recommended sanding and teak oil alone (no varnish or anything). Is that how this floor was likely originally finished? Being that it's not teak I kind of doubt it.
If not teak oil, what kind of finish should we use? I know there's 1000 opinions on this but I hope I provided enough detail to help zero in on the ideal solution.
I have a demonstrated history of doing terrible stain/seal work on furniture in our house, so we found a local guy who paints and finishes custom cabinetry who would be willing to do the work for us. However, I don't think he has a lot of marine experience and is recommending Shellac - making me a bit nervous because I've never heard anyone recommend Shellac in a marine context. And we redid the door with Shellac ourselves last year and it had water intrusion almost right away... but again that could have been my poor stain/seal skills.
Any help or advice would be appreciated!!!
My wife and I own an Express 34 (S/V Wild Thing) in Seward, Alaska, which we bought back in 2021. Beautifully taken care of boat, and we really wanted to keep the high standard of maintenance that the previous owners had. I don't have pictures of the flooring in particular from when we bought it, but it was in pretty good condition. Here's a couple of photos that have some floor in them from 2021:
The flooring style seems similar to the Hunter 340 in this post: refinishing cabin foor boards
Looking at the original brochure from the Express 34, I'm guessing that it's a combination of white oak and ash, not teak. https://express34.wordpress.com/express-34-color-brochure/
More recent picture, but the floor seems to be constructed of veneer on plywood:
So - now we're 4 seasons in and the floor is really starting to show signs of age. There's scratches, water intrusion, etc. You can guess from the picture above that we decided to pull the whole floor out this winter and take it home to refinish. It's still pretty smooth (except for the scratches) but is starting to look ugly:
So - here's the question. What advice do our fellow sailors have for the strategy to refinish this floor? Please talk to me like an absolute beginner.
I have a friend who recommended sanding and teak oil alone (no varnish or anything). Is that how this floor was likely originally finished? Being that it's not teak I kind of doubt it.
If not teak oil, what kind of finish should we use? I know there's 1000 opinions on this but I hope I provided enough detail to help zero in on the ideal solution.
I have a demonstrated history of doing terrible stain/seal work on furniture in our house, so we found a local guy who paints and finishes custom cabinetry who would be willing to do the work for us. However, I don't think he has a lot of marine experience and is recommending Shellac - making me a bit nervous because I've never heard anyone recommend Shellac in a marine context. And we redid the door with Shellac ourselves last year and it had water intrusion almost right away... but again that could have been my poor stain/seal skills.
Any help or advice would be appreciated!!!
