Stripping Paint & Varnish

[Kristal]

About to start stripping Crystal's hull, brightwork and spars back to bare wood. Considering I'll be using a heat gun, should I take pains to ensure I don't damage the topside paint whilst stripping the toerail, for instance, considering I won't be repainting for a couple of months, or would the teak be alright unpainted for that amount of time? I thought while I'm waving the heat gun about I might as well get everything off, but whilst she doesn't have a cover, this might not be wise.

Also, whilst I will be giving the deck a couple of coats at some point, I reckon I'm best trying not to get heat anywhere near it (I think it is canvas on ply). As the toerail is a different curvature almost everywhere, do you think I could protect the deck using a big sheet of aluminium foil folded many times, and able to be formed into the right shape for the bit of the rail I happen to be applying heat to at that moment?

Your thoughts would be appreciated.

/<

 

[Roach1948]

When I did the toe rail I just a used a wet rag for the deck side protection. As for the hull side my king plank is varnished too, so I just kept on stripping. Not sure what to suggest here as you really will need three hands.The wood did get water stained after a few wet weekends, but a vigorous sanding sorted it out. When preparing to varnish again one thing point out is the moisture in the wood. I did screw up a little here. At around midday it all started bubbling up when I thought everything was bone dry - so worth covering toe rail to allow to dry out a week or so before varnishing if not you will be doing an awful lot of sanding like I did!