have I made a terrible mistake?!

[handygirl]

My new baby went into the water on Sunday - looking cute as a button with her new green dodgers, boom cover and UV strip fashioned by moi (a bit of a b****r, but got there in the end!!). I mentioned in my last post that I had given her a girlie make over and I am now concerned that I have been a bit of a dumb girlie......... She has teak slatted seats and duck boards in the cockpit. When I bought her, these were painted an ugly, dull & chipped brown paint (criminal). So I stripped this back to the wood (lovely) and varnished with 10 coats of International yacht varnish from B&Q - my she looks pretty! BUT have I done the wrong thing? I have since read that this needs to be (a) two-tin varnish, (b) redone every 3 months (c) the world thinks you are mad to have so much brightwork. The guys that stepped the mast seemed agog that I should have done such a thing!! What choice did / do I have - I cant think that I could have oiled previously finished wood. Advice and recommendations, or support for my folly warmly welcome! - any remedy will probably need to wait till she comes out in October

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[steve_cronin]

carry on...

If you like it and it's appearance pleases then you have done the right thing for you.

Although International make a "Yacht Varnish" to be sold at DIYs this is actually a domestic product for those requiring the aappearance of a "nautical" varnished finish on their front doors etc. without going to all the trouble involved with something like "Spinnaker" which being oily (tang oil they call it) is an absolute sod to apply in a hurry and if the atmosphere is humid takes forever to dry.

time will tell and you will need to re-do it sooner rather than later but if it looks as good as it sounds, you are pleased with it and nobody's going to ask you to produce the can!

Steve Cronin



<hr width=100% size=1>The above is, like any other post here, only a personal opinion

 

[Mel]

I have a number of hard woods on my boat - aframosia, teak, mahogany etc – the wood has been stripped back as you have done and coated with similar –I use Wicks yacht varnish. This seems to work fine, but I do now recommend a very light rub down each year with wet and dry paper and a couple of fresh coats of varnish. If there are any damaged areas due to knocks then give these more attention and more varnish.

The results are really good and I think the effort is all very worth while !


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[cliff]

NO but your arm must be sore dubbing down after each coat of varnish. Hope you thinned the first one before applying it.


I have used the International Yacht Varnish (yes, out of B&Q) and I find it quite OK so far. Some folk swear by two pack, and this and that costing a wee fortune and smuggly sneer "you'll never gat away with that" but, and here's the crunch you can be too fussy. So far 3 seasons with out recoating and still looking fine although this season I will give the wash boards a quick rub over and another coat. As for the cockpit grating, it has stood up reasonably well but it has had a light rub down and another coat on the wearing side each season, seat slats generally still ok except where they are regularily stood on when boarding.

All treatments require the correct preparation of the timber before hand be it only making sure it is dry.

I would not worry - take a season out of it and see how it looks in 6 months or a year then decide what to do.


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[AndrewB]

Yes but ...

I'll give this varnish, on teak, a year tops. Then you can keep it going for a while longer by adding a coat every three months. UV is the main problem, so another way is to cover the seats when you are not aboard (opportunity here for some daintily stitched twee seat-cozies in a matching green motif). That way the varnish will last for much longer but ultimately won't hold on teak with any real wear, because of the oil in the wood.

But after a year, if you've seriously used this yacht, it'll be a lot less pristine and you'll be far less concerned about appearance ... until the time comes to sell.

In my opinion girlie touches aboard are best confined to ensuring that the ship's supplies consist of more than three crates of tinned bitter and a rusty can of baked beans.

 

[dickh]

The International Yacht Varnish from B&Q? With the nice picture of a yacht on the tin? Did you read the small print?
Tthe last time I looked it said "for interior use only......" so I didn't buy any. But be v interested to see how it performs in the long term.
My cockpit slats were also varnished when I bought the boat, and a couple of years ago the varnish started peeling off, so I was going to revarnish, but didn't have time before launch but had managed to strip off and sand the wood - I now leave it bare - much better and no maintenance.


<hr width=100% size=1>dickh
I'd rather be sailing... /forums/images/icons/smile.gif

 

[pandroid]

Re: carry on...

Many years ago my old man painted the inside of his Hustler with B&Q emulsion. He had problems at first until he switched to the 'bathroom' variety. Its still going strong.

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[LORDNELSON]

Like the others say, time will tell. All my exterior teak is left without any varnish, oil, etc., and is fairly regularly scrubbed down with sea water. Its kind of grey/silvery and I think it looks OK, maybe you could consider this if your varnish does fall off.

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[Avocet]

Yes, you're porbably mad - but hey, it's your boat!!!! Don't listen to 'em! For what its worth, I have found Ronseal Exterior varnish rather better than International's "yacht" varnish though - also available from B&Q. With 3 coats I get about 2 years before it starts to look bad. I can get another couple of years by applying additional coats but every 4 years or so I have to go back to bare wood. I'm sure there are better products on the market. Epifannes is supposed to be good but I've never tried it.

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[ashanta]

Some sense at last last, I thought this was a wind up?

Regards.

Peter.

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[cliff]

Agree with Avocet regarding Ronseal exterior as it is much easier to apply. A trick when varnishing (or even oiling) teak is to thoroughly clean the surfave with acetone or cellulose thinners before applying the first coat. This gets rid of the natural oils from the surface and allows the varnish to get a better bite into the wood.

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[handygirl]

Re: Yes but ...

........... thanks for putting me in my rightful place in the galley(!). Does serious sailing mean you have to be scruffy? How does a hairy-arsed bloke cope when it comes to the selling - get the girlies in to buff 'n' polish?!!!

BTW thanks for the tip on the seat cozies, but I think a pink motif would match my lippie better

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[handygirl]

It said for exterior use (not below the waterline) and has UV protection - given that they do make "proper" yacht varnish I wondered if it was the same product, different marketing.

I guess, as many suggest, the thing to do is to see how it goes - a rub and extra coat or two every year may do the trick. Otherwise I will strip off my 10 layers and go silver! (but NOT the hair Andrew!!!)

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[surekandoo]

There are some marvellous products out for timber now. I'm currently trialing a product I got from a mate who's a professional decking installer. He swears by the stuff I'm trying. Have done the teak garden furniture, and have given the outboard bracket a dose as a preliminary test of saltwater conditions. First sea trials in about a week.

This stuff looks like a cross between teak oil & traditional varnish. It's quite thin and the majority of it seems to soak into the wood like teak oil, but on those areas where saturation is achieved it seems to cure to a varnish like finish.

Watch this space.

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[AndrewB]

Tarting up for selling.

Worth a thread on its own.

Can I suggest that as well as the usual girlie touches e.g. baking bread in the oven, smelling strong enough to drown out the usual pong from the heads; that you carefully cultivate your nails to ostentatious length? Practice demonstrating how easy it is to winch without breaking any (six coats of epoxy in place of your regular nail-varnish helps here). Visiting SWMBOs are strangely reassured by this.

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[handygirl]

Re: Tarting up for selling.

Alas my nails gave up years ago - at the same time as unidentified scars appeared around my knees and shins, oh and one on my chin (dont ask!). Would an "up" hair-do and lashings of (waterproof of course) mascara do the trick?

What IS an SWMBO?!!

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[Stemar]

Re: SWMBO

SWMBO - She who must be obeyed, alias the trouble & strife!

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[smee]

As many have said, only time will tell. But who's to that say your "cheaper" varnish won't do just as well as the marketed for yacht stuff that is still pretty useless anyway, it falls off just as fast, and charges a hefty "marine" price to boot!!

However if it should all come off quicker than expected (which will probably be no quicker than International, Blakes, etc) you could always splash out on some Coelan instead. It does come with a hefty price tag, but if you do it, then its unlikely you will have to worry about varnishing again for the next ten years. Its a bit syrupy to put on but if you can work the magic on your nails with nailvarnish you probably won't have too much trouble with Coelan!! I have had a couple of varnished test strips running on my boat in the Med for 2 years, the varnishes all suffered within months, the Coelan is as good as the day it was put on, and the Med certainly tests it! I plan to put it all over my teak decking eventually, to make my boat look really pretty.

The guys who stepped your mast were probably agog, because it was the smartest boat they have seen in a while!! And were probably unsure where to put their size 14 oil stained clod hoppers!! Just look at most boats owned by men - mouldy old socks and grime in the heads deep enough to grow potatoes!!! - And probably a few mouldy old potatoes still in the oven from last season where they forgot them.... that I have seen and it wasn't pretty!!! Particularly if said men sail without wifey!



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[AndrewB]

Re: Tarting up for selling.

<blockquote><font size=1>In reply to:</font><hr>

<font size=1>Would an "up" hair-do and lashings of (waterproof of course) mascara do the trick?</font size=1>

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Absolutely! The hair says it's never windy and the mascara that it's not wet. Anything that suggests there is nothing elemental about the elements is spot on. And should an Ellen McArthur type just happen to show up, you can always pour a bucket of water over your head to quickly reverse the image.


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[drawp]

After maintaining a wooden boat for 18 years, I've tried about every varnish there is from expensive two part to cheap and nasty. Not one lasted significantly longer than any other and my conclusion is that the sun defeats them all. My solution is to go back to bare wood especially if it is teak. It only takes two or three scrubs - preferably across the grain - each spring to bring out the rich beautiful colour of natural teak. Besides varnish results the teak surface losing its non-slip property.



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