varnish - oil?

[florianfranz]

the inside of the hull of my old wooden boat (lapstracke) is oiled, but varnished below the waterline - does anybody know what that is for?

[Bruce Hooke]

It might be because someone figured that the area that is varnished is the area that is more likely to occasionally have standing water in it so they decided that a finish that is better at keeping water from soaking into the wood would be a good idea...

[Randy Sweet]

Is your boat a sailboat or a motorboat ?

[florianfranz]

hi randy

it is a sailboat, folkebaad (or folkboat) build in danmark 1964

[Randy Sweet]

Oiled inside above the waterline was preferrable to me because I that means I never ... I mean never have to sand the interior. In my Downeaster 18 that would be a major effort to sand around all the frames, etc.