preventing water ingress into wooden tiller

[johnkeith]

Bought a lovely new wooden tiller two years ago. Applied about ten coats of varnish and all was well. Last season I treated myself to a tiller extension which required drilling an approx. 10mm diameter hole for fitting the fixing into and two self tappers into the wood. Put varnish in the three holes but now the varnish 10cm either side of the new holes has started to crack and peel off. I know it must be caused by water getting in but don't know what the best way to prevent this is. Any tips?

ta

John

 

[petersto]

personally and I mean personally I would forget the varnish.

 

[sailorman]

varnish inside the 10 m/m hole you drilled

 

[PuffTheMagicDragon]

When not in use, I cover my tiller with a sleeve / tube made from a strip of Sunbrella to keep off the sun and the rain. The last time I applied varnish to the tiller was some seven or eight years ago. Still as good as new.

 

[Aeolus_IV]

I did four or five years of stripping and cleaning a wooden tiller before re-coating with new varnish every year. Tired of doing this I made myself a similar cover for the tiller out of some blue sprayhood material. It now looks great all the time, no winter work required. Well worth the relatively short time it took to make.

I also have a tiller extension fitted also requiring a sizeable hole in the tiller (probably about 13mm dia). As the hole didn't go all the way though I deliberately drilled a small hole the remainder of the distance through so that any water collecting in it had a means to drain away.

Regards,
Jeff.

 

[vyv_cox]

I take mine off when we are not aboard and replace it with a stainless steel one. Put the wooden one in the aft cabin. Lasts for ages there /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Pasarell]

Before you varnish put a coat of clear moisture cured urethane onto the bare wood, making sure it goes right into all holes. This will seal the wood and also form a really good base for varnish. International product is called Universal Clear Primer. Blakes is Wood Sealer.
Varnish will need recoating regularly as normal but the mcu will be fine for years.
Only works when you put onto bare wood - there's no point putting over existing varnish.

 

[Lakesailor]

I used Universal Clear Primer on the bottom of my clinker dinghy after a savage stripping back. It certainly made a good base for the varnish, was easy to apply and (so far) seems to have been worthwhile.