After sitting out in the desert sun for who knows how many years, the factory varnish had suffered quite a bit. With my new Dewalt Random Orbital sander in hand, I began what has turned out to be a lengthy but rewarding varnishing project.Pictured to the right is the aft thwart seat from our 15 foot boston whaler project boat. The wood is African Mahogany and I knew that under those peeling layers of varnish was a nice piece of wood.
I began by lightly scraping as much of the old varnish off as possible but quickly decided that I needed to break out the new sander. A couple of 80 grit sheets later I had made progress but it was time to try some chemicals. The citrus strip sounded like a good option but it took a few rounds before I could really see any progress. Once all the varnish was removed I mixed up some Oxalic acid and bleached the wood. This really evened out the tone of the wood and I was starting to think that I might someday have a nice looking seat on my hands.
When I got the boat back from having the new motor (Yamaha F60 4 Stroke) moun
ted, I stripped the entire interior and began stripping the varnish with a heat gun I purchased from Harbor Freight (I have dubbed it the Walmart of tools). This worked extremely well and I didn't end up using any of the citrus strip on the console, forward seat or deck cleat. I bought some new mahogany from Dixiline to replace the side rails. I skipped bleaching the rest of the wood although I'm wishing I would've at least hit the console.We have a couple of coats of varnish/thinner on both seats, console, side rails and deck cleat. It is starting to look really nice and the new side rails don't look all that different from the 20 year old, sun-baked seats.
We're ready to start brushing on the 100% strength varnish (Captain's) just as soon as I find some free time. I'm shooting for around 5 coats on top of the 4 partial strength coats that the wood already has. I'm hoping that a good cover and periodic maintenance will keep the wood looking good over the life of the boat.Next up: Cleaning & Patching (why do people screw so many things into boats?)
