To good of a finish

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Brent Smith

I just put the finishing touchs on a complete restoration of a very old wooden sailboat I bought at an auction. I stripped the old varnish off the teak decks and revarnished with six coats of Z-Cap from West Marine, the finish came out to be show quality, mirror finish and that the problem. the decks are slick as glass when they get wet. I am thinking of putting one more coat of varnish with some fine sand mixed in to give some traction. Does anyone thinks this sounds like a good plan or do you have a better way.
 
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TOM MCNAMARA

decks

For my money I would never varnish a teak deck,or should anyone.Too late now, two part teak cleaner should have been used and then a few coats of teak oil, or leave natural and let it grey.The varnish is a good show room finish,but not functional on a sailboat. Strip it with paint remover or just look at it. Or you can sail it and fall on your ___,thats the fatty part of you about midship aft. Do you know you say write gray or grey,one is English and the other American,I dont know which,but I dont think we will beat the COFFEE jobber with this,lets try
 

Rick D

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Jun 14, 2008
7,199
Hunter Legend 40.5 Shoreline Marina Long Beach CA
Easy to try it....

..had good luck years ago with an Interlux additive that had micro spheres rather than sand. Clear, so it won't foul up the varnish. In the old days when many decks were plywood painted, the same issue existed and that or fine sand was the preferred solution. The only risk is that the improvement isn't acceptable to you. But it takes little to find out. Good luck Rick D
 
Dec 2, 1999
15,184
Hunter Vision-36 Rio Vista, CA.
Sand, yes.

Brent: Now that you have the varnish on the deck, there are a couple of other things. First, even with the sand this may be slick when there is water on the deck. You probably should put some non-skid strips on the decks too. Second, every boat I see out here in the west needs varanish on a regular basis if it is not protected from the sun (UV deterioration). So I would think you should have a cover made for the boat to protect your hard work. I am sure that it looks like one of those old classic Chris-Crafts now, but I must agree with Tom M. No place for varnish on sailboat decks.
 
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Alan J

Add Grit !

I recently revarnished the interior of my H37C and on the companion way deck and on the tead pad outside the companionway I sprinkled a non skid additive with a pepper shaker(smaller holes) whilew the Sickens was still wet. It cured the skid problem and makes the surface look like a matte finish
 
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