Lapstrake Interior Refinishing

[JohnPlatou]

How do I properly refinish the interior of my 1960 16' Cruisers Inc. 202. The varnish appears to be in pretty good shape with a few cracks in the varnish and a few areas where the wood has turned yellow and a few spots turned gray. In these areas the varnish is heavly checked.

How do you properly prep the 43 year old finish for new varnish. What extra steps are required to prep the areas that have turned yellow and gray. Sanding? Chemical prep (liquid sand paper)?
OR????

What is the best method to apply varnish to the interior lapstrake brush? spray?

[Bob Smalser]

I'd sand it.

I'd start with 120 grit wet-or-dry alum oxide paper on the rough spots, maybe going coarser if I needed to so as to efficiently take off the gray, oxidized layer of wood.

And 180 grit to clean and put some tooth in the areas with sound varnish.

From those starting points, I'd go thru all the grits w/o skipping to 220 or 280, depending on how the old varnish sanded.

Vacuum out dust, wipe with paint store tack rag, and brush on new coats, following the manufacturer's instructions for the finish material used.

[Nicholas Carey]

You're describing dead varnish. About the only thing you can do with varnish that far gone is to wood it—remove all the varnish down to the bare wood with heat gun & scraper and/or chemical strippers.

Then wood bleach where/if needed.

Then sand and re-varnish.

[JohnPlatou]

It would be fairly easy to remove the varnish IF the inner hull were flat. Its not, a lapstrake boat has to many to count 4" x 4" square flat areas to sand and strip.

Any ideas how to stip these many areas. Seems like it might take years to strip and sand all the separate areas.

[ 10-09-2003, 04:31 AM: Message edited by: JohnPlatou ]

[NormMessinger]

Oh oh! Looks like a job for Super Sander, which is to say, the Fein MultiMaster. But maybe not. I can't picture 4" x 4" patches on the inside of a hull. What ever, it ain't gonna be easy.

[JohnPlatou]

Norm

Each lapstrake is 4" wide and ribs are on about 6" center, therefore the biggest flat area of plywood is about 4 x 5.

[bob goeckel]

i've done a few of these and you're gonna have to strip it if you want it right. heat gun and small triangular scraper are the best bet. just work a small area each day and you'll get it done then bleach and sand. LOTS of work. i've used 80 grit alone with fairly good looking results. if you're looking for that show finish you've got ALOT more work to do. remove as much interior parts as you can(seats etc.)before starting. as red green wood say "i'm pulling for you, we're all in this together". ;)

[ 10-09-2003, 09:37 AM: Message edited by: bob goeckel ]

[JFH]

I'd have to agree with the above comment. You should strip the inside first. Any yellow varnish or grey wood is still going to be yellow or grey when the new varnish is applied. I use stripper and a pressure washer to get the top layers off and then I use a heat gun or stripper to soften the finish and remove it with a good sharp scraper. Yes there are many small areas to do, but it is worth it in the end.
I use a detail sander by Porter Cable and have made a rubber bit to fit into it for sanding with the grain on each and every flat part.

It is lots of work and should not be considered lightly. You can see my Grew-Cruiser(mostly deck and outside pics) on www.innerbayboats.com (http://www.innerbayboats.com)

Just my 2 cents worth.

[Art Read]

This is why I used Deks Olja on my interior... And it's carvel planked! Takes a lot more consistant "upkeep" to keep the finish from getting "old" too quickly, but at least no more scraping old varnish out of all those nooks and crannies. Just something you might want to consider once you DO get that old finish out of there.

[Bob Smalser]

If you teach yourself to feather the edges between good varnish and bad, both in sanding and applying new coats, you can avoid stripping the entire interior.

Varnish that isn't yellowed, cracked/crazed or the wood beneath isn't oxidized or moldy only needs some topcoats to renew it's UV protection.

It takes some technique, but it can be done.

Where you've sanded to raw wood gets 2-4 coats first...those new edges feathered carefully into the old varnish both with brush technique and sanding between coats....then the entire interior gets two coats.

Depends on how bad your varnish is. It's often easier to strip the entire boat that to touch it up as I've described....it's fussy work for cheapskates who want the last ounce of service out of that expensive spar.

A good set of scrapers like WB magazine sells is useful in stripping multi-faceted surfaces.

[Andreas Jordahl Rhude]

yup, feather in the bad into the good. No need to strip the whole ceiling and start from scratch. Go after the bad areas and blend, blend, blend. It sounds as if there are just a few areas that need attention. There is NO easy means to strip finishes off these types of boats (Thompson, Cruisers, T & T, Lyman, Chris-Craft Sea Skiff...). Use a combination of chemicals, heat and a GOOD scraper, and sanding.

Spraying can be a fast means to appy the varnish. That's most likely what was done it the factory at Oconto. But there's nothing wrong with using a brush (foam or badger hair) to appy the varnish to the inside of the hull. I use foam brushes to apply varnish.

[Andreas Jordahl Rhude]

Although the 1960 Cruisers, Inc. catalog does not give specifics of finishes, the 1959 one does. It states that they used four coats of the "finest grade marine spar varnish" on the inside of the boat. Thompson Bros. Boat at Peshtigo was using Pettit paint and varnishes at that time period. Cruisers, Inc. was probably using the same stuff.