Varnishing question

[gravygraham]

I've got four of these removable teak coaming(?) toppings and they could use a birthday. They sand down well but I'd appreciate some advice on the type and quantity of varnish with which to re-coat them. They are a sort of cherry colour (matching the boat's interior) and I'd like to keep them that colour/shade if poss. The boat's a Jeanneau Prestige.

Any advice and comments most welcome.

Sanded down rail on left, original finish on right.

 

[Tranona]

Expect they are done originally in a sprayed on tinted lacquer rather than a conventional varnish and will probably be difficult to match with a varnish. suggest you talk to a Jeanneau dealer and find out what they do when they have to repair them.

 

[lw395]

They will have faded/reacted to sunlight, as will the rest of the boat, so don't expect an exact match.
You might want to try dying them first?
Try it on the back?

 

[prv]

My standard recipe for interior woodwork is a thorough de-dusting with tack cloth, then five coats of Epifanes Clear Varnish (first three thinned 50% - 25% - 10%), followed by two of Epifanes Rubbed Effect (total of seven coats). How well this would match any wood you already have I don't know - as Tranona says, the original was probably a sprayed two-part coating. Although a new bulkhead I made in cherry-faced ply and finished this way doesn't look garishly out of place compared to the original cherry in our 1998 Maxi.

This is assuming you're dealing with interiors - with mention of teak and coamings I'm not sure. I don't recommend varnishing woodwork on deck, except softwood spars, unless you want to spend the rest of your life looking after it.

If you're varnishing the piece in the photo, do give it a good going over with the tack cloth and then a clean rag soaked in varnish thinners. I can see a lot of dust still in the grain.

Pete

 

[gravygraham]

Thanks folks. Better roll me sleeves up then!

 

[john_morris_uk]

TOP TIP: If you want to know what the colour will be when they are vanished, wipe them with white spirit. It gives a very good idea of what they will end up looking like.

 

[pmagowan]

All the wood I have varnished (my boat is all wood so quite a bit) is a lot lighter when sanded and revarnished but slowly darkens over the next year or so. I too use epifanes starting with a quite dilute mixture and slowly building up. For objects that can be removed from the boat the process is easy as you can keep them in a shed in ideal conditions. I give each coat a slight roughening with fine sandpaper but there is an epifanes product, I think, which allows application onto ,almost dry, coats without this.

 

[nigelmercier]

As I said in the other thread: the best varnish I have found (by a long way) is Screwfix No Nonsense Yacht Varnish.
http://www.screwfix.com/p/no-nonsense-yacht-varnish-750ml/23164
Goes on well, no brush marks, neutral colour, deep gloss.

I would add that it looks like there is still some varnish in the grain of your wood. I had a similar problem on my boat (different varnish) and the result was patchy areas of a different colour. No idea how to eliminate this without further sanding.