Newbie woodwork questions

[plumpton]

Hi all

I am hoping to take delivery of my first boat this weekend. The woodwork in and out needs a bit of love.

1. Firstly the bathing platform. I am guessing the wood underneath the paint is teak. How best should I strip off the terrible paint job to get back to good wood? Im guessing I can use stripper but I would like to try and make it look a bit prettier this year without taking the boat out of the water before winter. If I were to use stripper there is a high chance of this falling in to the water which is probably not good for the environment.

2. The woodwork in the cockpit/cabin is varnished but is not in the best of states. It looks like damp has managed to get through the varnish so there are darker areas on the wood grain. These areas will probably be a verneer of some kind so I cant take a heavy duty sander to these places without the concern of going through the verneer.

Any tips on the above to set me off in the right direction would be hugely appreciated.

 

[jrudge]

There are plenty of threads ( and opinions) on varnishing woodwork so someone will be along in a moment.

Re the bathing platform can you post a picture and also the make / model of the boat. Someone may know what it was originally equipped with, but painting a teak bathing platform would be extreme, and if so done for a reason ( i.e. the wood was knackered!)

 

[TQA]

If you are worried about the environment rig a cheap tarp [ in the water ] under the platform to catch the debris and drips.

It should get most of them.

 

[plumpton]

Thanks for your posts so far...

The boat im buying is a Birchwood 25. Originally it would not have had a bathing platform fitted. We are completing the purchase this weekend. Photos of the bathing platform are a bit slim at the moment until I get hold of the boat. Ive pulled a small set of photos out of the boat particulars so you can get a rough idea of what im talking about.

Part of the platform can be viewed in this photo. FYI, the leg is in good serviceable condition even if it doesnt look the best at the moment.


You can see the bulkhead in the back of this photo. Im hoping I can strip off the varnish, clean things up and start again?

 

[jfm]

Bathing platform - not sure why you're guessing it is teak, not 2x1 softwood from B+Q. Ypou might have to re-make it in new wood rather than much about stripping that paint off

Bulkhead. Very tricky, if the black is as deep as the veneer, which it might be. I hope you get lucky and can sand it out, otherwise you could glue new veneer on, or wrap it, or paint it, or cover it with a new fabric covered ply panel, or something