Internal wood work revamp

underdog

underdog

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The wood work in the cabin of my Artekno H323 is beginning to look rather shabby after 31 years. There is build up of unknown oils and finishes which now feel tacky.What is the best method and product to remove these so that I can refinish the interior with Woodskin?
 
There are basically 4 methods of removing old finishes. First is chemical such as Nitromors, second hot air gun, third dry scraping and fourth sanding. No particular order of preference or effectiveness until you have tried as you don't know what is on there.

Suggest you try each in a small inconspicuous area first. It may well be that you need a combination. Just be aware that aggressive sanding can damage thin veneers on panels and you may find that you have to use oxalic acid to remove stains when you get to bare wood.

Woodskin may not be the best choice for interior work as its properties are best used externally. You may find a satin finish polyurethane finish or one of the "rubbed" finishes better for internal work as you do not need the weather and UV resistant properties of a porous woodstain.

Be prepared for a long slow job, particularly if you have large areas of veneered panelling or intricate mouldings. Probably better to tackle smallish areas at a time rather than try to do the whole cabin in one go.
 
Agree with Tranona. I'm slowly doing this on my 1989 Moody 31. We've had most of the doors off, and sanded them back to bare wood. After treating them with Oxalic acid to remove dark stains, they have come up very well, using Wilkinsons cheap satin yacht varnish as the finish! As Tranona says, no point in a fancy varnish for interior use; something flexible and reasonably hard wearing is all you need, and even cheap yacht varnish is better than you'd use for interior use at home. My experience is that mechanical removal of the old finish works well, and so far no problems with going through the surface veneer - it seems to be quite thick on the Moody. Now that I've done most of the removeable bits, I'll be starting to use cabinet scrapers to remove the finish - the electric sander makes too much dust for use on fixed woodwork; the one time we used it inside the boat, we took ages to clean up afterwards.

I would certainly NOT try and do it in one go. Even using scrapers (an old chisel works very well!) and electric sander (mouse style), it takes quite a while to remove the old finish, and you really do have to get every scrap of the old finish off if you're using Oxalic acid to restore the colour - any old varnish left on will result in patchy colour, as I found out on a floorboard. I'm planning on working panel by panel, and probably won't bother in areas where the existing finish looks OK!
 
Goodness, that all sounds like hard work, a bit like the Forth bridge. Why not use paint, a nice modern light colour like chalk white? and yes I do have my tin hat on and sandbags at the ready.
 
underdog said:
The wood work in the cabin of my Artekno H323 is beginning to look rather shabby after 31 years. There is build up of unknown oils and finishes which now feel tacky.What is the best method and product to remove these so that I can refinish the interior with Woodskin?
Click to expand...

I wouldn't use woodskin internally, but I wouldn't use varnish either, an oil based finished is easy to apply and easy to look after, no need for brushes, apply with a rag, (but be careful how you dispose of the rag!) No brush marks to contend with or smells.

I use this stuff on internal woodwork:

http://www.osmouk.com/previewpage.cfm?bookid=book001&chapter=57&page=116

very easy to work with, hard as nails when set.
 
Paddingtonbear said:
Goodness, that all sounds like hard work, a bit like the Forth bridge. Why not use paint, a nice modern light colour like chalk white? and yes I do have my tin hat on and sandbags at the ready.
Click to expand...

Of course, it depends on the style of your boat. Paint would look awful on the interior of some boats; varnish would look wrong on others.

I should say that I suspect that on mine, it's the first time it's been done since 1989 - the finish of interior varnish lasts a long time, but of course condensation and a damp environment means that sooner or later you get moisture under the finish, and that leads to black marks. There's a lot of it that I don't intend to touch as the finish is still perfect! I expect that once we've done it this time, it will see us out. That's the reason it's worth doing a more labour intensive job than we might otherwise do.

I'd also suspect that if a future buyer came long and saw white woodwork on a boat which was originally varnished, oiled or waxed, they'd wonder what you were hiding.
 
internal woodwork revamp

Thanks for your input

Made a start on the main bulk head this afternoon.The build up of old teak oil and miscellaneous finishes yielded remarkably easily to the application of a 2" scraper. I now try a small test application of oxalic acid to see what change in colour occurs.
I dont want to paint the interior as this would change the finish from the standard. The application of Varnish would also be non original.This leaves an oil or stain.Unfortunately the blurb for the recommended Osmo polyX oil states "Not recommended on exotic wood species such as Mahogany, Rosewood, Wenge etc." As most of the interior is mahogany faced ply with solid mahogany trim this does not appear to an option either.

Has any one any other recommendations for a suitable stain or oil
 
underdog said:
Thanks for your input

Made a start on the main bulk head this afternoon.The build up of old teak oil and miscellaneous finishes yielded remarkably easily to the application of a 2" scraper. I now try a small test application of oxalic acid to see what change in colour occurs.
I dont want to paint the interior as this would change the finish from the standard. The application of Varnish would also be non original.This leaves an oil or stain.Unfortunately the blurb for the recommended Osmo polyX oil states "Not recommended on exotic wood species such as Mahogany, Rosewood, Wenge etc." As most of the interior is mahogany faced ply with solid mahogany trim this does not appear to an option either.

Has any one any other recommendations for a suitable stain or oil
Click to expand...

Are you referring to the "For dark hardwoods (such as, Wenge, Teak, Merbau, Jatoba ...) we recommend using Osmo
Wood Wax Finish Clear Extra Thin. Trial application is most definitely recommended"

Polyx will darken slightly the appearance, but that is all, I've just been using it on teak and Sapele, rather pleased with the finish! Otherwise look at Liberon finishing oil:

http://www.axminster.co.uk/liberon-liberon-finishing-oil-prod22547/
 
If there are veneers involved I would not recommend scraping or sanding, you will go through sooner or later particularly if a previous owner has already had a go. Nitromors is far quicker and gentler. Unfortunately the new improved formula does not work as well as it did due to the removal of the dichloromethane but you can buy this quite cheaply on ebay and put it back again. Taking appropriate precautions obviously.
 
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