Interior Wood Refinishing

[npaulay]

Hello,

I'm working on restoring my fathers sailboat and one of the first projects is cleaning the inside up. It's in rough condition at the moment. The wood paneling has started to peel back (See attached photos). I'm hoping to be able to sand it down and clean it up with some type of wood oil. Does anyone have any experience doing a project like this? I'm hoping to not have to replace much wood if possible. The door to the head and a fold up table are already in need of being rebuilt. See attached google drive folder for photos. Sailboat Interior - Google Drive

Thanks!

 

[sailor832]

carefully remove the panels and use for patterns to make new there is no saving those panels they are saturated and are delaminating. The glassed in ones that hold the chain plates are sealed but I would drill a small test hole to see if the wood inside is wet. If it is you will need to cut it out, grind back the inside of the hull and glass new pieces in. In short it needs a complete gut and total rebuild and it is a lot of work.

 

[Rich Stidger]

You are correct- the interior is in very rough shape. I think it is beyond saving with sanding and refinishing. If this boat is very important to you, then I would consider gutting the interior and rebuilding with all the proper materials and techniques. I suspect that this is a 1960-70's vintage boat, and with the interior in this condition, I would expect that the exterior, sails, engine, and essentially all equipment will need extensive work or replacement.
This project is nothing that I would attempt. Sorry I can't be more positive about your project. Good luck.

 

[rgranger]

OY VEY!

Yup... that is a gut and rebuild job. But there are a lot of us on here who have done that..... We can cheer you on and maybe help with cost saving tips along the way. And share colossal mistakes we have made in the past...

 

[ggrizzard]

npaulay
You should go to the You Tube video series called "Sail Life". It's produced by a Danish IT pro who decided to become a one man boat re-builder, on TWO boats. He speaks perfect English and has a wry sense of humor.
He's in the middle of his second iteration of the interior rebuild on boat 2, so you should go back several episodes to the gutting/planning phase to start your education.
He has done hull and deck rebuilds as well.
He posts every Sunday evening EDT.

 

[Timm R Oday25]

I had a bulkhead on our boat that the chainplate had enlongated the holes .I dreaded replacing it . In the end it really wasn't nearly as bad
as I had imagined. As was previously post use the old one as a template . Pay particular attention to whether or not the old one was tabbed into the hull .After I replaced the starboard one , I noticed how shabby the port one looked . Yep ,I'm replacing that one as well.
Do yourself a favor and don't rush to get it done . Learn to enjoy the process and your end result will be much better .
Along with redoing the wood work ,you now have the perfect opportunity to run new wires for new lights .you might as well do it now as you'll never have better access . Don't let it over whelm you . Just do a little something fairly often.

 

[npaulay]

Thanks for the hope! The photo's I've shown you are the worst of it. For some reason the interior took the worst of sitting over the years. Exterior was repainted a couple years ago and just needs a cleaning. All the interior cushions and things are inside the house including the sails. It has a brand new to me Yanmar SB8 engine that purrs.

Hoping to install once I get the interior cleaned up, painted, and wood paneling replaced.
This was sailing the Puget Sound up until about 10 years ago. Only reason it got to this point was the thru hull shaft packing started leaking and the boat yard that tried to fix it didn't do it correctly and it had to be taken back. After sitting for a couple months in the boat yard they tried to run the engine in drydock without any water and burnt the engine up. Idiots. So its been sitting on the trailer at home since then. I'll share some more photos once I get it cleaned.

 

[gtg]

I'd try sanding....then marine varnish that sucker! Oh course it is for structural support so soggy wood needs to go. Varinsh and sanding was a quick fix for me and if and when it doesn't work, I replace it.