Do I have to strip the entire piece?

[djn]

Hi All, I am starting to plan my work for spring and was wondering this; If I have rub/wear spots on the cabin hatch, for example, do I have to sand the entire piece down to bare wood, or can I sand the bare grayed wood down and feather out around it, then varnish that area? What is the proper way of doing this? Cheers.

[Dan McCosh]

Attempting to patch in a spot, particularly where it has made the wood gray, will probably leave a visible spot in the surface. Stripping the whole hatch, sanding to an even color, then refinishing, would probably be best.

[John Boone]

Afternoon,

To be clear, I am not a professional brightwork guy but I do my own varnish work and folks are convinced my boat's name stands for "Too much wood to varnish".

Got any photos of the area you are asking about? That might help folks offer some opinions. What wood is your cabin hatch made from? Are the worn spots small or do they involve a large area?

Is the rest of the varnish around these areas in good shape or can you tell if it has broken down also but not yet worn off? Is the wood under the "good" varnish areas bleached out from the sun? If so then it is likely that you will have a color variation where you sand the grayed out areas and revarnish.

If expediency is what you are after and the rest of your varnish on the hatch is good then you can certainly do as you suggest. In my experience this will likely yield a job that shows the spots you have just sanded down and varnished in contrast to the areas around them. Assuming you plan to build up the sanded areas with several coats then sand and varnish the entire hatch with several more coats, you will have protection but the hatch will show the "scratch and patch" nature of your efforts. If thats OK with you then go for it.

It is more work to strip the hatch and build up the varnish but you might like the results better. The color will more likely be uniform and the job will look more "professional". I also think you establish a better baseline for future maintenance of the varnish. I'm not sure if you have owned your boat for awhile or recently purchased it so that might not be important to you. For me it is. Personal preference I guess.

Pick a good varnish and be meticulous with your prep work. Don't scrimp on the number of coats. Be prompt about touching up nicks and dings to the varnish that occur between annual maintenance cycles.

Can we see some photos?

Good luck, John

http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd304/jsbpbacct/SV%20Whampoa/IMG_2777copy.jpg

[djn]

Hi John, I don't have any photos now but will take some next time I am out to the boat. I just used the hatch as an example. There are several wear spots in and around the cockpit. I am focusing on redoing the bottom this winter and just wanted to touch up the spots this spring. Next winter I am redoing the topsides. Cheers.

[Bob Cleek]

It's nearly impossible to avoid the bare patch showing against the older varnish coat in such circumstances. However, it is possible to come close. Use oxalic acid to bleach the grayed wood. Then you can sand lightly. If you are sanding off weathered wood, you'll be taking a lot more wood off than may be necessary. See if you can build up the coats over the bare patch and then sand it to feather in the patched varnish patch. If you take it down to bare wood and then just lay on a whole new coat, the bare patch will still have a much thinner coat of varnish on it than the rest of the job and will be the first to wear off again. Sad to say, once you "hit bare wood," it is time to strip down and start over again.