I am planning to refinish the sole of my Hunter 31 this season. I am sold on all the positive word of mouth I have seen for the Ultimate Sole brand of coating. That is what I plan to use. But is spite of the excellent directions they have listed on their site, I am not exactly sure how to proceed. The sole of the boat is probably typical for such an old vessel (1985). I believe it has the original finish. It may have been oiled once or twice, though not recently. It is dirty and dingy and has a few stains from beverages being spilled on it. Prior to coating it with the Ultimate Sole varnish product, do I need to only clean it? Do I need to sand it? Should I strip it? If I sand or strip, will I need to re-stain it? If I need to re-stain, does anyone know what I can use to match the color? If you have done this on your boat, let me know what you did and how it worked out. Paul
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Stan
Hello Paul
I refinished my cabin sole about a year ago, I'm not much of a wood worker but the results really impressed me. I first cleaned it, then sanded ( keep the belt sander in the case, the laminate is waaaaaay too thin for that ) this means a lot of hand sanding, always with the grain even when you get tempted to go across it on a particularly stubborn area. Now, here's where a lot of people will tell me I'm crazy and made a mistake, but the results are first rate... I used two coats of Minwax honey pine gloss ( I know...Wal Mart stuff ), sanding in between, then four coats of clear polyurethane to finish it. I stopped at two coats with the honey pine because I didn't want the wood to get too dark, and the four coats of clear make it plenty rugged for walking on, there is no noticable difference in traction wet or dry from before, and in my opinion it looks great! Anyhow, that's just the way I chose to do it, if I knew more about woodworking I may have done something else, but I am very satisfied with the results. Stan.
I refinished my cabin sole about a year ago, I'm not much of a wood worker but the results really impressed me. I first cleaned it, then sanded ( keep the belt sander in the case, the laminate is waaaaaay too thin for that ) this means a lot of hand sanding, always with the grain even when you get tempted to go across it on a particularly stubborn area. Now, here's where a lot of people will tell me I'm crazy and made a mistake, but the results are first rate... I used two coats of Minwax honey pine gloss ( I know...Wal Mart stuff ), sanding in between, then four coats of clear polyurethane to finish it. I stopped at two coats with the honey pine because I didn't want the wood to get too dark, and the four coats of clear make it plenty rugged for walking on, there is no noticable difference in traction wet or dry from before, and in my opinion it looks great! Anyhow, that's just the way I chose to do it, if I knew more about woodworking I may have done something else, but I am very satisfied with the results. Stan.
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Steve
I refinished the cabin sole on my O'Day 322 once with urethane varnish and then replaced the sole with new boards and used Ultimate Sole on them. I would guess that your old boards are varnished and, if so, you have to strip off the old varnish before you apply any new coating. The one time I stripped the old finish I used a Citrus based stripper that I bought at Home Depot - it worked like a charm and did not smell bad. Follow the package instructions. After stripping, you should lightly sand the boards since the stipper will raise the nap of the wood. Use fine sandpaper, probably 320 grit because your cabin sole is probably veneer over plywood. By the way, the whole job is a lot easier if you can remove the sole and do the job outside the cabin. After the sole is stripped and lightly sanded just follow the instructions that come with the Ultimate Sole sealer and top coat. If your sole is clean, the sealer and top coat will result in roughly the same teak/holly color as you had before and no stain is necessary. When I went to sell my O'Day last year the first thing that the buyer noticed was how great my cabin sole looked.
Photo forum entry
I did the same thing a number of years ago using Profin, here are the photo's and step by step. Hope it helps. Regards. Bruce Neon Moon
I did the same thing a number of years ago using Profin, here are the photo's and step by step. Hope it helps. Regards. Bruce Neon Moon
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gr8_2_av8
Me too
I want to do the same but have a few spots on the sole where it is kind of a yellow. Is this a result of someone sanding through the sole in the past?
I want to do the same but have a few spots on the sole where it is kind of a yellow. Is this a result of someone sanding through the sole in the past?
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Paul I
More info
Thank you Bruce, I had looked at your Photo Forum entry on this topic...several times. I did find it helpful. Gathering up the beer requirement will be my first priority. From what I can gather from the archives, the original finish on my Hunter 31 sole is either Teak oil or Profin (anyone know how to tell?). Profin is an oil modified urathane. So is Ultimate Sole. So if the original finish is Profin, both finishes should be compatable. If the original finish was oil, well, lets say very little of it is remaining. It certainly looks like the before pics in Bruce's Photo Forum entry, making me lean toward an oiled finish. to Gr8_2_AV8 : I think the yellow spots are areas where water was allowed to stand. I have a few areas like that from where leaky water bottles leaked from the refrigerator. I guess I plan to clean (with orange cleaner)and sand the sole and dont have a problem with any of that, but what about color. Is the color on my Hunter sole just the natural color of teak with Profin applied? Was it stained first? Does Profin have a color? Does Ultimate sole have a color? How can GR8_2_AV8 and I match those yellow spots, or will they sand and or wash out?
Thank you Bruce, I had looked at your Photo Forum entry on this topic...several times. I did find it helpful. Gathering up the beer requirement will be my first priority. From what I can gather from the archives, the original finish on my Hunter 31 sole is either Teak oil or Profin (anyone know how to tell?). Profin is an oil modified urathane. So is Ultimate Sole. So if the original finish is Profin, both finishes should be compatable. If the original finish was oil, well, lets say very little of it is remaining. It certainly looks like the before pics in Bruce's Photo Forum entry, making me lean toward an oiled finish. to Gr8_2_AV8 : I think the yellow spots are areas where water was allowed to stand. I have a few areas like that from where leaky water bottles leaked from the refrigerator. I guess I plan to clean (with orange cleaner)and sand the sole and dont have a problem with any of that, but what about color. Is the color on my Hunter sole just the natural color of teak with Profin applied? Was it stained first? Does Profin have a color? Does Ultimate sole have a color? How can GR8_2_AV8 and I match those yellow spots, or will they sand and or wash out?
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