All The Gear........No Idea

[destroyer28a]

Hi, i am in the middle of refurbishing my boat and was wondering what people are using to restore and clean their boats, also looking for products which require little maintenance, ie all the wood on deck needs attention what is best? a varnish or a stain, or an oil i dont want to be having to redo it every year, so any ideas? Things i need to address are

1. Woodwork interior and exterior
2. Aluminium Window frames, cleats and hatches
3. Winch Drums
4. Fibreglass deck
5. Vinyl type of headlining

Please reply with your secrets....

 

[pcatterall]

You may not get many replies as I think your question is to wide ranging.
You need to search the site for all the different aspects you need to cover. ( it is often easier to search via a search engine as the one here is not very effective)
You might consider which jobs are essential now and also the weather.
There is still enough potential decent weather to get some exterior jobs done. Some work you can possibly do at home.
Ensure you winterise the boat properly ( look it up!!)
Good luck

 

[SailingEcosse]

Hi, i am in the middle of refurbishing my boat and was wondering what people are using to restore and clean their boats, also looking for products which require little maintenance, ie all the wood on deck needs attention what is best? a varnish or a stain, or an oil i dont want to be having to redo it every year, so any ideas? Things i need to address are

1. Woodwork interior and exterior
2. Aluminium Window frames, cleats and hatches
3. Winch Drums
4. Fibreglass deck
5. Vinyl type of headlining

Please reply with your secrets....

Doing much the same myself and used the following

1. Stain, easy to apply and re-apply
2. "ally clean" from Frosts works well
3. mine need rechromed, but they work and will need to do at the moment!
4. poundshop oven cleaner (two spray cans did the full deck easily) and a quick scrub and wash off works a treat
5. I bought 15sq mtrs off ebay for less than £80 (perforated foam backed type vinyl) glued it onto new 3mm ply boards and fixed with screws and screwfix caps (£2) looks better than new

 

[Trundlebug]

If your first job is exterior woodwork, may I be the first to disappoint you by saying that whatever you end up using (and for almost all of us, the search continues..) there is no product on the market that lasts longer than 12-18 months. Whatever they claim.

12 coats of top quality varnish? 12 months. 18 months tops.
6 coats of average varnish? 12 months.
Oil? 3-6 months (D1 or teak oil or Danish oil or any other)
Oil then varnish on top? 12 months (e.g. Deks Olje D1 and D2)
Le Tonkinois? Probably about 12 months (although I haven't tried it yet. It's next on the list, sitting in the stern locker waiting..) I would be amazed if it's any longer.

My conclusions from the above, FWIW, are that I now go for the quickest, easiest product to apply with minimum preparation. They all last 12 months anyway, why go to all the fuss every year? After the initial restoration you need the easiest reapplication product.

I don't know which one that is yet, as I said, my search continues

Good luck with the rest of the list

 

[Koeketiene]

3. Winch Drums

Had ours re-chromed two years ago at a 'Classic Car' place - they usually do bumpers, car door handles, headlights, etc... Came out really nice.

Price was reasonable too - all the quotes from their 'marine' counterparts were wallet-crippling.

 

[sailorman]

Had ours re-chromed two years ago at a 'Classic Car' place - they usually do bumpers, car door handles, headlights, etc... Came out really nice.

Price was reasonable too - all the quotes from their 'marine' counterparts were wallet-crippling.

They knew you were skint at the time

 

[jwilson]

Doing much the same myself and used the following

1. Stain, easy to apply and re-apply
2. "ally clean" from Frosts works well
3. mine need rechromed, but they work and will need to do at the moment!
4. poundshop oven cleaner (two spray cans did the full deck easily) and a quick scrub and wash off works a treat
5. I bought 15sq mtrs off ebay for less than £80 (perforated foam backed type vinyl) glued it onto new 3mm ply boards and fixed with screws and screwfix caps (£2) looks better than new

I'd be very wary of any sort of oven cleaner on decks, many of them will dull and/or strip off the anodising....

 

[Koeketiene]

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They knew you were skint at the time

What do you mean: at the time?

 

[SailingEcosse]

I'd be very wary of any sort of oven cleaner on decks, many of them will dull and/or strip off the anodising....

I think the poundshop stuff is pretty weak, but it cleans up gelcoat nicely, although it does need a bit of a polish afterwards, didn't try it it anything anodised though!

 

[sailorman]

I think the poundshop stuff is pretty weak, but it cleans up gelcoat nicely, although it does need a bit of a polish afterwards, didn't try it it anything anodised though!

it is liable to soften the gelcoat better to use oxalic acid

 

[teddington_lock]

I agree , Oxalic Acid is the way to go.

I bought a load of crystals off Ebay , mixed them up , 'painted' the mix on with a 4 inch brush , left it to do it's magic and washed it off.

Hey presto , a bright clean boat. Then a machine polish and a coat of wax. I did the hull 6 months ago , and water still beads on it. ( It's on the Thames though , no salt water )

 

[DavidGrieves]

Exterior teak woodwork can be left without any varnish or oil. Remove old varnish with a scraper, lighty sand and leave it to weather and go a silver grey colour. You will need to clean it throughout the season with a teak cleaner. It won't rot away because of the natural oils in the teak. Varnished bright teak does look great but its a lot of work to keep it looking good. Have you got the time to spend on it every year?

Hull can be cleaned with "Starbright Hull Cleaner" put some in a triger spray spray on hull, rub in with a sponge, leav it for a while to work its magic then hose off with plenty water. Light polish, then wax. Use electric buffers with care. Gell coat is only microns thick, you don't want to scrub it away!

 

[Marine Reflections]

Exterior teak woodwork can be left without any varnish or oil. Remove old varnish with a scraper, lighty sand and leave it to weather and go a silver grey colour. You will need to clean it throughout the season with a teak cleaner. It won't rot away because of the natural oils in the teak. Varnished bright teak does look great but its a lot of work to keep it looking good. Have you got the time to spend on it every year?

Hull can be cleaned with "Starbright Hull Cleaner" put some in a triger spray spray on hull, rub in with a sponge, leav it for a while to work its magic then hose off with plenty water. Light polish, then wax. Use electric buffers with care. Gell coat is only microns thick, you don't want to scrub it away!

My leg is only microns thick!

The question is ..can you afford 'not' to spend the time/money on maintaining each year.

A light oxalic mix would work well as would the SB HC but water beading after 6 months Teddington? keep doing what your doing