How to adjust for varnish changing the thickness of wood parts.

[TamBamK]

I recently purchased a PY23. I need to re varnish the teak. There are a couple of places like the companion way hatch and wash boards where the design has a teak rail (board) sliding in a teak groove. When re varnishing how do you keep the tolerances acceptable. Especially over 10 coats of varnish. If I give it to much room they will leak. Not enough and they wont slide or worse wont fit at all. But wood also changes thickness as it swells and drys. I feel like I'm missing something here.

In a related topic should I be lubing the hatch glides (teak on teak) with something?

 

[stickinthemud57]

First off, I have no practical experience to offer, but if it were my problem, I think what I would do is go ahead and re-varnish everything and then sand any non-fitting surfaces down until they fit with a bit of clearance to allow for swelling due to heat or humidity. Then I would apply one thin coat to seal it back up and give it at least a week to dry before putting it into use. As for lubrication, applying paraffin wax or somesuch to the mating surfaces would probably be a good idea. That's what we used to use on our wooden drawer glides anyway. Perhaps there is a more specialized product designed to work well in the marine environment.

You might want to look into using Tung oil. I would think you would need to be sure to sand off all of the original finish (probably need to anyway?).

Hopefully someone more experienced will chime in...

 

[Rich Stidger]

I have used Butcher's brand of wax on wooden drawer slides. Worked great.

 

[dlochner]

Easy solution, don't put 10 coats of varnish on the hatch boards. If you don't want to do that, sand the sections of the board that will come in contact with he guides to give it some extra room.

A paste wax like Butchers, Johnson, or Minwax works well on sliding wood parts. A 1 lb tub will last a lifetime.

 

[BigEasy]

Tape the edges that are contained within the side guides. That will permit you to apply several coats to the hatch board surfaces that are exposed to weather. After you build up a satisfactory amount of varnish, remove the tape and apply one or two thin coats on the edges. Use wax as necessary on the edges.