refinish mahogany (?) trim

[erice]

i've got about 100 linear feet of cap rail that needs to be refinished. i'd like to do this with varnish. a friend who has the same type of boat used epiphanes and was very happy with it. my issue is this: lack of time & energy. my first thought was to scrape/sand/finish the wood over the winter, then when it's warm enough in the spring, apply the finish. my wife wondered if i could scrape/sand the wood in sections, and apply varnish one section at a time. any help would be appreciated.

[Panhdjoe]

I have been slowly refinishing all the wood trim on our 27ac over the last year, I am almost done. I originally thought the wood to be teak but have learned that most of it is mahogany. I started a thread with questions about the job which probably can be found with a search. I got a lot of good advice. I settled on Cetol for the finish and striped all the old varnish off using a heat gun and then sanded. I have found that if the wood is left unfinished it will turn grey in a matter of a few weeks if it is exposed to sun and weather. Then re-sanding is necessary. So after stripping some pieces i do 3 coats of Cetol. I remove all the wood that I can and take it home to do. that is partly because i live 120 miles from the boat. You are going to enjoy the beauty of the wood and get great satisfactoin from doing the job yourself. Its alot of work but well worth it. Joe P.S. The thread was "Refinishing exterior teak"

[bccanucker]

I have been varnishing 3 different boats over 25 years. Doing varnishing but you dont have enough time could be a problem.
My very, very best advice is to buy the hardcover book "BRIGHTWORK The Art of finishing Wood" by Rebacca Wittman.
Epifanes and Interlux Schooner are the 2 most popular in our area. I use the Schooner. I find Epifanes too dark. I use SeaFin Teak Oil as a sealer coat to the varnish
I don't like the color of Cetol and have seen a lot of failures.
Using just teak oil means you'l have to coat 3 times per summer but it's easy to prepare to do compared to varnishing. The longevity trick with varnishing is to get up to 8 or 9 coats and do 2 coats each spring.
When I strip I prefer heat gun but on this boat with its narrow rails I found it easier to sand. I use 80 grit to 220 to 400 after the 5th coat.
I have a 36' classic and this boat has more teak than ny previous 2 boats. I am doing it using your section method as doing too much at a time is a sure fire way of me loosing interest. The section method doesn't work if the piece is continuous. My cap rail is one piece all the way around the boat. If you try to varnish that in sections you will end up with break lines in the varnish. My hand rail is three different sections and piecemeal works great.
See my blog at
http://www.blueheron-albin.blogspot.com/

[RobS]

...because i live 120 miles from the boat...

Wow! That would take me some getting used to!
I have a mahogony deck at home and have benn using Cetol since new in 2004, great stuff..

[bccanucker]

I just got my latest issue of Practicle Sailor (A marine mag that evalutes products) and they have just finished their 2 year review of teak finishes.
See
http://www.practical-sailor.com/issues/ ... 576-1.html

Cetol Marine Light with a coating of gloss rated quite high.
Epifanes beat my Interlux Schooner
Article talks about tradeoffs of the various types of coatings that might be pertinent to this thread.