Bright work refinish

[eseyoung]

as i iron out the issues with the boat one by one i am up to the point where i am now up to the point where i am ready to finish some wood. Not much on the A27 but some things that need attention. At some point in the boat's life someone stained it all a very dark color. I started sanding a test patch to see how much sanding was going to be needed what found was not encouraging. THe wood, isn't rotten but seems dried out...its splintering everywhere and seems very soft, not damp or rotten but kinda like balsa. sadly and no amount of sanding seems like it will do the trick. i sanded one section, starting with 80, 120 then 200 but it isn't. ANyone know what kind of wood was used on the A27? i don't think it was teak?!?

Either way, i am not a huge wood lover and have no desire to 'yacht it up' with great looking wood work. How would an epoxy type paint work? anything special? i am leaning toward doing it all new deck restore stuff (think porch not boat) from Rustolem. THe neighbor but it on his deck last summer and it looks great after a year. two coats is literally 1/16 - 1/8 '' thick, it has a sandy texture so it wouuld be good for grab rails. Thoughts?

[Panhdjoe]

The wood on our 1984 A27 was mostly mahogany. I am not sure about your refinish issues, I used a heat gun and scraper to strip all the wood then sanded and applied 3 coats of Cetol natural teak. it looked good, after about 3 years some of it was starting to need recoating.

[Jay Knoll]

Eric

I wouldn't use that deck restore stuff, a rough surface will attract dirt, be hard to keep clean and will be unpleasant to grab.

If you're going to paint them, and that wouldn't be a bad idea, then I would try to stabilize the "soft grain" with WEST system. Then you could smooth out any blemishes, rough grain with a product called Half Time that you can get at an auto finishing supply store

http://www.autobodytoolmart.com/usc-hal ... 10968.aspx

if they are really bad, then consider tearing them off and buying some new ones.

But, you might rethink your aversion to "wood", there isn't that much on these boats and a bit of shiny wood can really make the boat "pop". I used Cetol on the refinish of my swim platform, it looks great and it covered up a lot of the dings that I wouldn't sand out.

Jay

Jay

[eseyoung]

Jay,

After some sole searching and looking at options i tried the swim platform in the deck restore. I gotta tell you it came out pretty well. I know it is a temporary fix as it was in rough shape. But i think it will go a few seasons, hey maybe longer. I STILL GOTTA GET PICS! this one is from the work yard but you can see (kinda) the platform and my pet ghost

[eseyoung]

when/if i do need to redo the wood i am gonna use these guys... www.plasteak.com they do grab rails and misc parts too.

[mike66]

I've had good luck stabilizing weak wood with Smith CPES. It can drip alot, so vertical surfaces are tough, but it will penetrate the wood fibers and restore them. You do have to remove most of the old finish before you apply it. Good luck with your project!