BYYB Forums

Polishing varnish takes a bit of practice, but the results can be spectacular, as I'm sure you now understand. The work looks great, clearly one of the best I've seen. You have a lot to be quite proud of.

Thanks Paul.
Have you ever tried using a HVLP sprayer to apply varnish?  If so, what was your technique?  Did you have to add a lot of thinner?

I am novice with the applying wood finishes.. I used sikkens cetol natural teak marine grade and everything just worked out perfectly. Amazing stuff. Just brush it on even and all your problems fade away. Lasts a long time too. It allows the wood to breath still unlike allot of other products.

I have a few different HVLP setups, but for small jobs, like the ones done here, I use a Graco 3900, which is a turbine style of HVLP gun. I've never seen a Wagner gun that was worth it's weight in hose crap.

Most varnishes can be shot straight or nearly so, though I'll add just enough thinner to remove "stipple". Often I'll add a "flow promoter" (Penetrol or similar) again to assist getting the finish to "lay down". It takes some getting use to, but once you start spraying, you'll find it hard to go back to a brush. Spraying applies a much more uniform film thickness and typically much less material per coat, so you can really fine tune the finish. Coupled with some buffing, this is how the pro's get those mahogany runabout finishes so nice. These mirror finishes are hard to master, but once you're experienced with the gun, thinning, etc. fantastic results are pretty easy.

Attached are some recent sprayed finishes. The hull has some stipple in it, but I knew I would be blocking it down with a long wet sanding session, so I didn't go crazy trying to get all the stipple out of the gun. Lapstrakes are a bit different, because you can't do a wholesale rub job on the finish, you have to work each plank separately. If it was a round bilge or slab sided boat, I would have tried to get the finish much smoother, then I would have buffed it up. Buffing a lapped hull always leaves a trace line, below each lap, where the buffer head can reach, so I hand sand instead.

The rudder assembly shows how clean and smooth spraying can be. The bottom forward section of the rudder blade is actually picking up a reflection from the washer it's sitting on. That's shinny paint if it can do that.

The spraying part is the very last step. The rudder reflection shows how straight (fair) the blade is. If you don't have really fair surfaces, there's no sense in spraying and buffing. It'll just show how bad you really are at the prep.

Sikkens Cetol Natural Teak is a combination clear finish with a some solids, sort of a part paint, part varnish type of thing. As a result it's translucent, not truly clear and can look "muddy" to some, particularly over light colored wood. It's a modified polyester resin with a xylene vehicle. Though they say only to use their special cleaning solvent (xylene) and not to thin it, they do so, because of the UV inhibitors they add. Adding a thinner just dilutes the inhibitor content, decreasing its effectiveness as a semi clear coating. I have to admit, I'm not a fan of the Cetol line of products, mostly because it doesn't look natural. My recommendation from Interlux would be Compass Clear, which is a single part polyurethane or Gold Spar, which is a single part modified polyurethane.

Paul I'm so sad to hear your no happy about the cetol. Only because your opinion is dear to me. I haven't ran into any of the problems you are mentioning,though when I first applied the stuff after the 6th coat it stayed soft ang gummy for about a month or so.it did have kind of a plastic vibe going on. But only to the touch. I get only positive comments on the finish and no shortage of them. Have you tried the natural teak. It might be nicer to look at then some of the other tints. Do you know of another varnish that breathes

All varnishes and polyurethanes "breath" though is is far less important than the "modulus of elongation" the product might have. The coating needs to match very closely the substrates physical attributes, or something's going to give (usually the coating). As a rule, if the wood is well encapsulated, you'll want a harder, stiffer coating, but if the wood is coated raw, you'll need something with a bit of flexibility.

I just don't like the Cetol line of products, so haven't tried all the combinations Lyle. I know a few that swear by this stuff, but the boats I've seen were less than desirable finishes, which isn't the fault of the coating, but I just don't like the translucence.

Fair enough and makes sense with dry vs green wood. Thank you for the insight again Paul.

Hello Mark, 

    I was wondering how everything with your boat is going, please give us an update!  Also I would love to see your boat in person, as the pics have been fantastic!

Regards,

  Will in Everett

Hi Will.
I took a break after September and haven't done anything on the build since then.  Now it's April and I really need to get back to work on it.  It was too cold and wet to work on it until now (curing temperatures).  But I was really scratching my head over how to install the rigging.  Maybe I'm worried about making a mistake in drilling holes for the hardware.  But the plans are pretty confusing.  I looked for a professional rigger to help me but couldn't find one.  That in itself is amazing considering how many thousands of sailboats are in the Puget Sound area.  But I do think I need someone with experience to help me with the final push since I've never owned a sailboat prior to this one.

Mark,

    Thanks for getting back to me.  I understand the weather putting things on hold, I can't wait to see your finished work as you have done fantastic so far!

    As A whole, the rigging looks big , confusing, and complicated.  If you Break it down to Pieces/Stages of rigging to me it seems easier and makes a bit more sense.  For my weekender (Have first 14' Keel board coming tomorrow) when I get to the rigging, I plan on Figuring the Peak Halyard first Starting on the Top of the Mast and Plan the Line down to base of the mast.  Then I would Plan the line rout to the cockpit.  I would Repeat with the Peak Halyard.  Next I would do the Jib Again Starting at the top line, then adding the Sheet lines (I'm going with 2 lines on my Jib, and no clubfoot).  I will finish up with the sheet line for the Main.  Hopefully after all this I will have the sails and all their lines arranged in a functional and efficient manner.  I also have downloaded pics of Every weekender I could find, and have been referencing them to see how others ran their lines and rigging.

Regards,

    Will