A Woody Kind of Week - Post #11

“Until you do it all yourself,

you cannot have any idea of the innumerable minutiae

to be attended to in the proper care of a yacht.”

 John MacGregor”

May 7, .... Wednesday... WOOD ... a natural fabric.

I told myself the purpose of this week's trip was solely to work on wood.  Exterior teak wood that had been tired and worn for quite some time.... as much as the cumulous clouds called me to go sailing, I resisted... and even PERsisted to get down on some grainy wood work...  now it's done and sailing can return to the priority list.  Amen.

Theres something about working with wood that stirs a man's soul.... in a rewarding way.  It's such a fine fabric to work with.

it's a natural media, substance, life form, whatever you wanna call it, that is easily adaptable to the human spirit.  It gives, it resists, it absorbs, it rewards, it is the warmth of any vessel... a boat with no wood is pretty stale.... it's organic, it's natural, it's forgiving, it has immense strength... it shines, it fades, it glows, it supports, and it steers many a vessel home.

here's the steps i took to get this wood looking nice.  It's been a long time since anyone took an interest in the exterior wood on Glory Day's... not that there's that much wood, but what little there is ... a toe rail all the way round and 2 grab rails on the cabin top is about it.... is worth the effort to restore... two days of labor got it done tho... three coats on everything... but there's more... number one:  clean the teak with a solvent, that you scrub out.... let it dry... follow up with a thorough sanding of the top, inside, and outside of the rail... then, you guessed, it ... sand it all again... get it down to the raw... hmmmm... raw.... now you're ready for treatment...

There's 2 ways you can go... if you apply the Cetol gloss,, it's sort of like a varnish... shiny and pretty...it will last about 2 years, maybe longer if you keep it touched up... maybe.  BUT, when it comes time to strip it and redo, you are talking a lot of labor to strip it down to the raw wood,,,, there's that word again... raw.

Soooo, Plan B is to use a product called Semco, which I like... once the wood is sanded and raw, it is ready to receive whatever surface treatment you prefer... I like the Semca because it is readily "absorbed into" the grain of the wood, as opposed to "coated" the wood for a gloss finish like Cetol.

So I did a compromise... grab rails on the cabin deck are glossy Cetol and look so fine.  Tow rail and doors to the companionway are treated with the Semca for a matt finish... nice too.

Wood is good. Wood is good.

Done.