Varnish or Oil

[Fascadale]

I have all the wooden parts from my cockpit; wasboards, gratings etc in my garage, all stripped and sanded. The other external wooden parts of the boat, the toerails and grabrails are also stripped ready for the treatment.

(everything was covered in thick sticky dark brown junk)

Should I varnish them or treat them with something like Deks Olje ?

I don't want to have to give them the full treatment every year but I am trying to transform my now "very scruffy and not well cared for looking" MAB into an "old but well cared for" MAB.

Opinions and product recommendations please

 

[sailorman]

Deks Olje

imho is a waste of time
a friend uses this
[sikkens, ie cetolmarine woodoil-varnish, done in natural]

it gives a very nice light finish & easy to maintain

 

[Athene V30]

I use hard wood garden furniture paint from B&Q. Choice of colours - teak / mahogany etc. Very easy to use & quick drying - if get a bit of a scratch / bump all you have to do is lightly sand affected area and slap on a coat or two rather than have to take it all back to the beginning.

Never going to win a 'concourse d'elegance' but there again I'd rather be sailing than maintaining! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Salty John]

I'd oil the gratings and varnish the rest. You could oil the toe rail but you can get streaks running down the hull as the oil washes out.
I had a boat with a huge amount of teak on it and in an effort to reduce the time I spent maintaining it I used Cetol. Cetol is easy to apply but I find the appearance is a little disappointing - don't ever use it alongside varnish because it doesn't bear the comparison! The upkeep is definitely easier, though.

 

[rogerdog]

If you want appearance - varnish will win hands down 100% of the time - but as already stated maintenance.

Oil easy to apply, good protection and re coating for maintenance is a very quick and easy affair - but will darken the wood and on toe rails leaves streaks on the hull but how much time maintaining vs using ?

 

[Tranona]

Sikkens Novatec/Novatop is the way to go - see the tests in Classic Boat. It is a porous woodstain, two part and tthe top coat has a good sheen finish. Use a light tint for top coat. Only 3 coats and easy to apply. Needs freshening up every couple of years for appearance. My mast stood 5 years without the film breaking down and just needed a rub down and a new top coat - ready for another 5 years.

Over the 30 years I have owned my wooden boat I have tried most finishes and this is easily the best.

No Connection - not even a big customer as probably only bought 6 tins!

 

[Poignard]

Le Tonkinois is very good, and easy to apply.

 

[FlorealIII]

after trying so many different wood protecting stuff for so many years, I go back to varnish which is the best and best looking, but it needs maintenance.

 

[michael_w]

Epifanes varnish will repay all your hard work with a beautiful surface. The only problem is that you have to keep on top of it all the time. If you're the sort who doesn't do any maintainence during the season, then varnish is not for you.

Bare minimum is four coats and get at least 2 coats on per year. Once you get enough coats on, you'll have a fairly hard wearing surface. I reckon the tiller and hand rails on my old Contessa 33 probably had 25+ coats of varnish!

The secret with good brightwork is avoid having to scrape. Light rubdown and paint another coat. Covering it from extremes of sun and cold saves much work.

 

[KINGFISHER 9]

Coelan.

 

[cormorant]

I am a big fan of Cetol as it is so low maintenance, doesn't look like varnish though as has been pointed out. I have recently used Sadolin Clear coat on my mizzen to test it out, it seems to be a varnish/oil and looks pretty good - if it's anything like ordinary Sadolin it will be a durable product. Would be interested to hear from anyone who has tested this over a period of time.

 

[saltwater_gypsy]

VOTE FOR SIKKENS CETOL!!!

 

[Salty John]

This is Cetol. It has an 'orange-ish' colour that gives it away when compared to a real varnish job. It certainly helps the cruising: maintenance ratio though!

(Sorry about the quality, it's a video capture).

 

[Seanick]

If you wish to have a yacht finish, use varnish.
If you want a workboat/shed finish, use one of the brown sludges available.
If the timber is teak, leave it to go grey-it will outlast us all.
If its mahogany, buy a cockpit cover.
/forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif

 

[markpageant]

Local hardware store or B&Q garden furniture wood oil. Costs about 10 quid for 3 coats of all wood on your boat. Repeat mid and end of season. It takes minutes to appy, easily cleaned off and cheap. Dont get ripped off by the oils made from the armpits of swedish maidens...