Discoloured interior woodwork

[WindermereColvic]

Dear all,

As you can see, some of the fixed interior woodwork is discoloured.

It can't removed and taken home, and a thorough rubbing down and many coats of varnish is beyond me at the moment!

Can you recommend any product / matt stain etc which would even up the colour and get things looking neater?

Cheers

 

[justanothersailboat]

There is not much you can coat it with that will actually produce a real improvement. I've seen cases where that was tried and made it worse.

You may find that the woodwork finish is not varnish, but lacquer that tends to go pale yellow after several decades of UV and moisture but can be scraped off - in many cases relatively easily (use a good sharp carbide scraper) - saving a vast amount of sanding. Then only a little sanding before you recoat, also with lacquer (then there's no risk of something not sticking due to incompatibility). The acid catalysed cellulose lacquers that a lot of, say, 50 to 30 year old boats used are designed to be recoated several times in one day so it doesn't become the marathon job that classic varnish does.

At least some more modern boats have 2-pack lacquer based on a different chemistry that does not seem so easy to refinish, but is less likely to need it. It might be polyester. I'm not sure when that started to come in.

 

[Tranona]

No. Nothing short of taking it back to bare ply and even then difficult to get an even colour. suggest you paint it satin white like this

 

[justanothersailboat]

If painting, surface prep really well. Previous owners of my boat surface prepped badly and once the paint started flaking, it was hard to clean. Also bits of it got into the woodgrain so it was really hard to go back, but go back I eventually did - and it was hard going. Sorting out the bits with lacquer alone was much easier.

 

[scozzy]

Buy a couple of metres of van carpet! Cheap effective and done in a day without picking up a brush or scraper

 

[Ray Purchase]

Maybe Iron-on Wood Veneer Sheets

 

[Refueler]

Furniture guys use Oxalic Acid .... yes same stuff we clean our hulls with .... it acts as a bleaching agent to remove stains etc.

But care needed if any soft furnishings etc around.

 

[Tranona]

Furniture guys use Oxalic Acid .... yes same stuff we clean our hulls with .... it acts as a bleaching agent to remove stains etc.

But care needed if any soft furnishings etc around.

That can work, but often with cheap ply like that which does not have a good top veneer it is difficult to both get all the old varnish off and then get an even colour. It might be worth the effort with a good veneer like teak or sapele but the OP has already said he wants a cheap fix. The only really quick fix is paint or maybe one of the heavily tinted satin varnishes. However it may end up looking worse than it is already

 

[trapper guy]

Buy a couple of metres of van carpet! Cheap effective and done in a day without picking up a brush or scraper

ive been thinking of doing the same, but throughout the boat.
i have a moulded ceiling skin, which condenses moisture then drips it all over the V berth, which causes damp sheets and cushions if not managed.
im thinking synthetic short pile carpet tiles, which would insulate the cabin, requiring less heating, preventing condensation drips from an otherwise stone cold surface. even thinking of the inside of the cupboards, which are moulded GRP, which also condense moisture and soak everything in them

 

[justanothersailboat]

Furniture guys use Oxalic Acid .... yes same stuff we clean our hulls with .... it acts as a bleaching agent to remove stains etc.

But care needed if any soft furnishings etc around.

This is true for some kinds of dark stains in wood. Original photo looks to me like aging lacquer. Not sure you can bleach that out.

I still think scraper, then a relatively quick sand, then a quick wipe over with thinned spirit-based wood dye to fill in a bit of colour, then three coats of Morrells 440. As long as the scraping job isn't too bad and the underlying ply is in good condition it's not an impossibly long job and will be better than any shortcut. (to some people this suggestion IS the shortcut). And if you wanted to paint you'd still have to sort out the surface first.

 

[harvey38]

ive been thinking of doing the same, but throughout the boat.
i have a moulded ceiling skin, which condenses moisture then drips it all over the V berth, which causes damp sheets and cushions if not managed.
im thinking synthetic short pile carpet tiles, which would insulate the cabin, requiring less heating, preventing condensation drips from an otherwise stone cold surface. even thinking of the inside of the cupboards, which are moulded GRP, which also condense moisture and soak everything in them

We used this four way stretch lining extensively on our boat, plenty of How to videos here - Van Lining

 

[Refueler]

ive been thinking of doing the same, but throughout the boat.
i have a moulded ceiling skin, which condenses moisture then drips it all over the V berth, which causes damp sheets and cushions if not managed.
im thinking synthetic short pile carpet tiles, which would insulate the cabin, requiring less heating, preventing condensation drips from an otherwise stone cold surface. even thinking of the inside of the cupboards, which are moulded GRP, which also condense moisture and soak everything in them

Ventilation ... sounds like you need to find a way to get air moving through your boat and cupboards.

Installing material such as carpet etc will not cure the source of the problem .. can in fact create increased mould etc.

 

[Metalicmike]

Get some satin finish white two pack polyurethane paint, apply it with a roller. You will be amazed how much brighter and cleaner it will look, some saloons look really nice with varnished woodwork but many look to dark and gloomy.

 

[Concerto]

WindermereColvic. Your name suggests you have a Colvic moulded boat. If so you cannot identify what finish was applied to the plywood as so many were home completed. A commercial yard would certainly have used a lacquer due to the speedy drying and not being tacky to attract dust, however a home completion may have used varnish. Looking at the photo, the plywood grain does not seem to be one of the main veneered timbers so I suspect it was home completed. You can try removing all the existing finish, thne bleaching the wood or staining the wood to match the darker parts (a skilled job) and then refinishing. Personally I would follow Tranona's suggestion and paint the plywood white as it will be a lot quicker. My presentation on interior woodwork may provide lots of information about how I returned my Fulmar's woodwork back to original finish.

https://wiki.westerly-owners.co.uk/images/2/25/Interior_Woodwork_Concerto_PowerPoint.pdf