Hi All,
After much research and reading posts here on the topic I decided to replace our failed cetol with varnish, using Captain's varnish, making the first coat 50/50 varnish and brushing thinner and the other eight coats 80/10. I will finish with two coats of epiphanes when the whole boat is complete. It has taken me about two weeks to do just the combings in the cockpit. It looks beautiful BUT
careful inspection reveals that the open wood grain still shows up as dents in the surface.
Would mixing the first coat with filler alleviate the coarseness of the grain? If so, what has anyone used? Horizons is 25 years old and has always had cetol. We were unable to keep up the cetol owing to two unforseen years in the DR, where it is not available, and the cetol lifted and left the wood unprotected, allowing the rain to raise the grain.
I like the look of the varnish, and believe it will be no harder to maintain when finished than cetol but would like to see if I can solve the open grain question before I go further. A neighbor has a wooden boat that looks like glass, but his recommendations were definitely at odds with those of the Interlux rep and his boat is mahogany not teak.
We have finished our 13 years of living aboard and are now going to spend some serious time on deferred maintenance.
Thanks for your help,
Laurie King
Horizons
IP38-84
