Ronin NW
02-22-2005, 06:12 PM
So it looks like my forehatch varnish kinda failed in a few spots (wasn't someone supposed to keep up on that?), so I stripped & cleaned it all up, but I'm not sure that I should finish it as it was before. Here's the deal:
It's very stout (and heavy), squarish, 'laid teak' on a plywood subdeck (the only subdeck on the boat). It's got mohagony trim around it, and oak coamings (right word?) that fit around the hatch coamings on the foredeck. The teak planks are each separated by about 1/4" of rubbery seam compound, and there's a solar fan in the middle.
The whole thing was varnished over, which was quite pretty, but I kinda hated walking all over it, since the foredeck's a bit cluttered as it is, and it's prone to get some abuse. When I took up the solar fan housing, the wood just under the housing was nicely gray, so it does appear to be teak and not mohogany. My concern is that the varnish went right over the rubber seam compound. It seems (ha!) that since the seems stand a bit proud (even with vigorous sanding), any varnish over them will inherently crack under pressure as the rubber gives.
There's a similar situation on the engine room hatch: similar construction but without the trim, and cracks appearing in the varnish above all seams. Mushroom vent instead of fan, so no weathered wood to test. Might be mohagany instead of teak.
So my thought is to either: 1) varnish the mohogany trim and oak coaming, letting the teak weather; 2) varnish as above but oil the teak to keep it pretty; or 3) varnish the whole thing but tape of the seams (probably too much of a pain and I'd just varnish the whole durn thing again... which would at least protect the subdeck as well).
Am I too eager to improve the situation? (i.e. should I just be more diligent about my varnish and not blame the seam compound?) Part of this is admittadly an aesthetic dilemna I'll have to come to terms with: there's no oiled wood above deck; the decks are well-weathered gray, and everything else is varnished.
Sorry, too busy this weekend to put batteries in my camera ;)
Any thoughts would be welcome.
-Scott
It's very stout (and heavy), squarish, 'laid teak' on a plywood subdeck (the only subdeck on the boat). It's got mohagony trim around it, and oak coamings (right word?) that fit around the hatch coamings on the foredeck. The teak planks are each separated by about 1/4" of rubbery seam compound, and there's a solar fan in the middle.
The whole thing was varnished over, which was quite pretty, but I kinda hated walking all over it, since the foredeck's a bit cluttered as it is, and it's prone to get some abuse. When I took up the solar fan housing, the wood just under the housing was nicely gray, so it does appear to be teak and not mohogany. My concern is that the varnish went right over the rubber seam compound. It seems (ha!) that since the seems stand a bit proud (even with vigorous sanding), any varnish over them will inherently crack under pressure as the rubber gives.
There's a similar situation on the engine room hatch: similar construction but without the trim, and cracks appearing in the varnish above all seams. Mushroom vent instead of fan, so no weathered wood to test. Might be mohagany instead of teak.
So my thought is to either: 1) varnish the mohogany trim and oak coaming, letting the teak weather; 2) varnish as above but oil the teak to keep it pretty; or 3) varnish the whole thing but tape of the seams (probably too much of a pain and I'd just varnish the whole durn thing again... which would at least protect the subdeck as well).
Am I too eager to improve the situation? (i.e. should I just be more diligent about my varnish and not blame the seam compound?) Part of this is admittadly an aesthetic dilemna I'll have to come to terms with: there's no oiled wood above deck; the decks are well-weathered gray, and everything else is varnished.
Sorry, too busy this weekend to put batteries in my camera ;)
Any thoughts would be welcome.
-Scott