Hi, Ted: Check out the varnishing tips from Don Casey, author of "This Old Boat," at his "how-to" website: http://www.boatus.com/boattech/howto_lib.htm I removed all the extremely weathered teak fixtures from my M-17, Sapphire, sanded them smooth and used Casey's priming and coat-building techniques to restore the boat's brightwork to a beautiful luster. I did not remove the teak toerails and instead opted to tape off, sand and varnish them with small brushes (some of them sponge brushes to get the inside surfaces). (I do think the deck is fastened to the hull with bolts through the toerail) Since then, I've only had to sand lightly and reapply varnish each spring to keep the wood looking great. In addition to thorough preparation, don't skimp on varnish quality. I found Epifanes Gloss varnish easy to apply and sand, great looking and durable. It's a bit pricey but worth it, in my opinion. Here's a link to the product at Defender Marine: http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?path=-1%7C10918%7C296162%7C10952%7C31150... On Oct 16, 2011, at 6:44 PM, Ted Weidenbach wrote:
Hi everyone,
It is October and sailing season has pretty much come to an end in Minnesota. I am looking to refurbish the wood on the 1981 monty 15 that I bought last winter. I was wondering if anyone has any advice on what worked well for them at any point in the process. From taking off the wood (which I am doing now) to sanding to making it look good, any help would be appreciated.
Also the toe rail is wood and I want to take that off but I still need to transfer it to storage. Does the toe rail keep the top of the boat and the bottom of the boat attached? It looks like that is what is keeping it together and if I took it off I wouldn't want to be driving down the highway with it. Any thoughts?
Thanks, Ted _______________________________________________ http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats
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