What is the preferred means of treating interior wood on a 77 Cat 30? There are some water stains and some sun bleaching that I would like to repair. What are the best maintenance practices and products to keeping the wood looking good. Thanks for the help.
Treating Interior Wood?
- Thread starter dstaylor95
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It all depends on what you like. Some, like me, like teak oiled interior (NOT the topside wood, though). Others love the shiny varnish or some like satin varnish. Others have actually cetoled down below. Do a search on varnish, or "interior varnish" and find earlier posts on the subject.
Your boat, your choice.
Your boat, your choice.
DS,
Stu has some good info above. My motto is: "life is too short to constantly do your wood".
After trying many wood cleaners/strippers over the years I came across a product which I feel is the best and easiest to use. It's called "Snappy Teak".
It's a 2 part liquid. Part one looks like grape juice which gets into the soft wood and cleans and strips it well. Part 2 is the acid wash. Both parts are used with supplied scrub brushes & applied with foam brushes.
After the application your wood will dry looking like sandlewood. Just beautiful. The instant you put the brush to oil/varnish, it's just like great SEX! Instant gratification. When cleaning, only brush very softly along the grain. Instructions on the bottle are good. with the scrub brushes as the chemicals soften the pulp. After drying lightly sand with 220 grit (interior wood). I'll bet it will take alot of the stain out. I always use the part one several times and let it soak in before applying part 2. You can always re-apply it.
This is great for exterior teak too. I see alot of people just sanding away their wood. With this stuff it's only sanding lightly to knock down any high spots. "Never sand your wood away man". better living thru chemistry. Also this is neutralized by water.
You may have to look for it. I got my last batch on a web site. It's not too pricey. Let me know if you have any questions....
c'ron
Stu has some good info above. My motto is: "life is too short to constantly do your wood".
After trying many wood cleaners/strippers over the years I came across a product which I feel is the best and easiest to use. It's called "Snappy Teak".
It's a 2 part liquid. Part one looks like grape juice which gets into the soft wood and cleans and strips it well. Part 2 is the acid wash. Both parts are used with supplied scrub brushes & applied with foam brushes.
After the application your wood will dry looking like sandlewood. Just beautiful. The instant you put the brush to oil/varnish, it's just like great SEX! Instant gratification. When cleaning, only brush very softly along the grain. Instructions on the bottle are good. with the scrub brushes as the chemicals soften the pulp. After drying lightly sand with 220 grit (interior wood). I'll bet it will take alot of the stain out. I always use the part one several times and let it soak in before applying part 2. You can always re-apply it.
This is great for exterior teak too. I see alot of people just sanding away their wood. With this stuff it's only sanding lightly to knock down any high spots. "Never sand your wood away man". better living thru chemistry. Also this is neutralized by water.
You may have to look for it. I got my last batch on a web site. It's not too pricey. Let me know if you have any questions....
c'ron
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Whatever you decide, you're looking at a big project. But it's always worth it when it's done!
A couple of things to beware about. Be careful sanding the bulkheads, it's a veneer and you can sand the grain off...which I did.
There is more wood than you realize! MUCH more...
I removed everything including the kitchen sink and took it home with me, spent the whole winter redoing. I sanded all the original red stain off the teak going from 100 grit to 220/440 grit. I then re-oiled all the teak.
For the interior I used an off the shelf gloss/spar finish from MinWax from Home Depot. It is fairly cheap, goes on very easily and finishes nicely. I don't know how this would hold up for exterior wood, but the only issue on interior wood would be latent moisture and closed in heat. After one summer, everything held up nicely.
As far as the finish, I thinned the first coats by 50%. I put the first two coats on within 30 minutes of each other as they soaked into the wood rather quickly. After 24 hours, I 220 grit sanded everything, then 0000 steel wooled it. Wiped it down and put another 2 coats on after thinning by about 30%, there was about an hour wait between these coats.
After 24 hours, I sanded any drips or sags completely.
The next 4-5 coats I progressively thinned less and less until the final coat had barely any thinner added. I aggresively sanded any mistakes before the next coat.
I used 2" foam brushes and they worked just fine.
Loading up...this was trip 1 of about 4! I wasn't kidding!
Before I bought boat...sorry I should have removed the table, but you can see a round stain to the left of light.
Hey! I found one with the table missing! Notice the stains, velcro, etc.
This was after the teak oil and the first 2 coats of thinned varnish. Notice how I got too close to the veneer on the right of the main bulkhead and around the trim on the clothes closet...what a noob!
The finished product. I forgot to tell you, I took all the fiddles apart...I put each individual spool and put them in my drill press. I sanded each one down, oiled them and then put 4 coats of varnish on each of them before putting the fiddles back together.
NOW THAT WAS STUPID! Towards the end, I just threw them in a cup of varnish, shook them around and dumped them on my tool bench. Drips be damned!
Overall I'm happy and since I never spend any time down there, it was well worth it! Woot!
A couple of things to beware about. Be careful sanding the bulkheads, it's a veneer and you can sand the grain off...which I did.
There is more wood than you realize! MUCH more...
I removed everything including the kitchen sink and took it home with me, spent the whole winter redoing. I sanded all the original red stain off the teak going from 100 grit to 220/440 grit. I then re-oiled all the teak.
For the interior I used an off the shelf gloss/spar finish from MinWax from Home Depot. It is fairly cheap, goes on very easily and finishes nicely. I don't know how this would hold up for exterior wood, but the only issue on interior wood would be latent moisture and closed in heat. After one summer, everything held up nicely.
As far as the finish, I thinned the first coats by 50%. I put the first two coats on within 30 minutes of each other as they soaked into the wood rather quickly. After 24 hours, I 220 grit sanded everything, then 0000 steel wooled it. Wiped it down and put another 2 coats on after thinning by about 30%, there was about an hour wait between these coats.
After 24 hours, I sanded any drips or sags completely.
The next 4-5 coats I progressively thinned less and less until the final coat had barely any thinner added. I aggresively sanded any mistakes before the next coat.
I used 2" foam brushes and they worked just fine.
Loading up...this was trip 1 of about 4! I wasn't kidding!
Before I bought boat...sorry I should have removed the table, but you can see a round stain to the left of light.
Hey! I found one with the table missing! Notice the stains, velcro, etc.
This was after the teak oil and the first 2 coats of thinned varnish. Notice how I got too close to the veneer on the right of the main bulkhead and around the trim on the clothes closet...what a noob!
The finished product. I forgot to tell you, I took all the fiddles apart...I put each individual spool and put them in my drill press. I sanded each one down, oiled them and then put 4 coats of varnish on each of them before putting the fiddles back together.
NOW THAT WAS STUPID! Towards the end, I just threw them in a cup of varnish, shook them around and dumped them on my tool bench. Drips be damned!
Overall I'm happy and since I never spend any time down there, it was well worth it! Woot!
Team 118 mentioned using foam brushes to apply the varnish. I am using Goldspar for my interior, and have gound that the best foam brushes are the real dense ones I found at Home Depot for 67 cents each. I had been using Wal Mart brushes, but found that the foam wasn't very dense, and they left a lot of air bubbles in the finish, while the dense ones are much clearer. In fact, I barely have to sand anything after applying the finish coats. Spend a few bucks more for the good brushes!
Best I found for cleaning up teak is bronze wool. Just make sure you wipe it down with a tack rag before treating the teak. We have used bronze wool cleaning for decades and apply "Tip-Top-Teak" for interior oiling. One application (foam brush), penetrates deep and makes the teak look very rich. Its hard to find this stuff these days though.
Bob
Bob
Bob,
I was referring to stripping wood, be it oil or varnish. I've turned quite a few people on to Snappy Teak and that's all they will use to bare the wood. Using it there is no wood loss.
Team 118 had the right idea. Varnished wood will reflect light down below giving the interior color and brightness & depth.
Sounds like you oil you wood is that correct? I tried that years ago and it held up pretty well, but I just wanted to have the gloss look that only varnish can achieve. Plue it's a sealer and as long as it is out of direct sunlight, it should shine for years. My varnish so far down below is 10 years now and still shining bright.......
CR
I was referring to stripping wood, be it oil or varnish. I've turned quite a few people on to Snappy Teak and that's all they will use to bare the wood. Using it there is no wood loss.
Team 118 had the right idea. Varnished wood will reflect light down below giving the interior color and brightness & depth.
Sounds like you oil you wood is that correct? I tried that years ago and it held up pretty well, but I just wanted to have the gloss look that only varnish can achieve. Plue it's a sealer and as long as it is out of direct sunlight, it should shine for years. My varnish so far down below is 10 years now and still shining bright.......
CR
Gotcha Ron.
Although my extrerior teak is varnished (every piece has a sunbrella cover when the boat is not used) I prefer the interior to be more flat then bright. Its a personal highlight thing!! I know how tough it is to strip varnish, but I have preferred bronze wool and a tack rag over sandpaper when needed. Stripping varnish to me is like peeling a bowling ball!
Good luck
Bob
Although my extrerior teak is varnished (every piece has a sunbrella cover when the boat is not used) I prefer the interior to be more flat then bright. Its a personal highlight thing!! I know how tough it is to strip varnish, but I have preferred bronze wool and a tack rag over sandpaper when needed. Stripping varnish to me is like peeling a bowling ball!
Good luck
Bob
Bob,
I hear that. I tell folks that life is too short to varnish your own teak.
Whether you varnish or oil, each stroke is instant gratification...
CR
I hear that. I tell folks that life is too short to varnish your own teak.
Whether you varnish or oil, each stroke is instant gratification...
CR
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