A note on a different way to varnish a deck.

[Jay Greer]

Yesterday was the 4th of July and a bunch of my pals were sharing some single malt scotch while talking about their memories of boating. The subject turned to varnishing techniques and one of our group mentioned how the owners of the Star Boats that were kept in the north lot of the St. Franchis YC in San Francisco got such stunning results with brushed on varnish on their decks. It seems that the Star ballast bulb has a threaded 3/4" hole in it that is used for holding a screw eye when the keels are being moved about at the foundry. Once the keel is attached to the hull, the hole is filled with a wooden plug. The owners would remove the plug, screw in a steel eye and attach a lifting wire whip to it. For the final coat of varnish, the boat would be launced by the club crane and then raised by the whip up side down. Once stabalized, the last coat of varnish would be applied to the inverted deck. The results were a pristine coat of varnish with no runs and no settled dust!
And I thought I was crazy when it comes to varnishing!
Jay

[Breakaway]

Cool post Jay. I fear that right now, some forumites are rigging chain falls and other sundry tackle in an effort to replicate the technique!

Kevin

[Hwyl]

I can believe it

[JimConlin]

I'm not gonna sleep tonight.
I'll be trying to figure out how to invert a 29' x 23' multihull.

[Todd Bradshaw]

My Star didn't have a hole in the keel, but I drilled one just above the bulb. I was working at the time in an old lumber yard building with 6"x14" wooden beams in the ceiling. I built a couple of safety slings, put a cable through the hole, lifted the boat by myself using a Harken 6 to 1 catamaran mainsheet system and rolled it in the slings. Eventually I could hang the entire boat upside-down on a single 1/8" cable and a Harken 1.5" diameter wire block using a big, hand-cranked trailer winch bolted to a huge upright post. It was OK for working on the bottom, but needless to say, it was not something I was going to crawl under for paint work. The wire block lasted through a couple of these turnings during the rebuild process before the Torlon ball bearings finally got flattened.

[Larks]

While I don't plan on varnishing my decks, I'm now thinking of a whole new set up for varnishing my cabin sides and interior panelings before they are fitted that will make good use of my garage creeper:



Thanks Jay

[Bob Cleek]

I remember the Stars in the St.FYC parking lot, too, but I never heard that they were varnished upside down. You sure it wasn't the single malt talking, Jay? That's about the windiest place on the whole damn Bay. I'd expect that there'd be more dust, grit and dirt kicked up by the wind from the ground than would ever settle on a varnished deck from above. It's a good story, though!

[Jay Greer]

Bob, Whether true or not, as you say, it is a is a good story . Personaly, I think of all the varnish that would run down the brush ferrul on to my wrist or in my eye. My pal is going sailing with us on Monday so I will hit him up for a retake on the story.
Jay

[boattruck]

Jay, Can't say I ever heard of a Star Boat being up ended for varnish, and cant see how the flipping hassle would be better than the available alternatives, never mind the possible fools errand of trying to get a race boat's deck than 'pinned', but I have known over the years, of doors, panels and the like being hung upside down and varnished with good results, seems to me more of a solution for desparate finish guys in dusty boatyards, my pal with his high end finish shop is able to get near perfect results in his spray booths by keeping things real clean...Cheers, Steve

[Lew Barrett]

Working over your head is about as hard as it gets. Of course, I feel like I've been working well over my head all my life!

[pcford]

Yesterday was the 4th of July and a bunch of my pals were sharing some single malt scotch while talking about their memories of boating. The subject turned to varnishing techniques and one of our group mentioned how the owners of the Star Boats that were kept in the north lot of the St. Franchis YC in San Francisco got such stunning results with brushed on varnish on their decks. It seems that the Star ballast bulb has a threaded 3/4" hole in it that is used for holding a screw eye when the keels are being moved about at the foundry. Once the keel is attached to the hull, the hole is filled with a wooden plug. The owners would remove the plug, screw in a steel eye and attach a lifting wire whip to it. For the final coat of varnish, the boat would be launced by the club crane and then raised by the whip up side down. Once stabalized, the last coat of varnish would be applied to the inverted deck. The results were a pristine coat of varnish with no runs and no settled dust!
And I thought I was crazy when it comes to varnishing!
Jay

I have heard of a builder who did it that way...middle western firm. Now, of course, with microfine abrasives and compounds there is no need for this.