Cabin sole varnish recommendations

[Jim Walsh]

As you can see from the attached photo my cabin sole needs a little attention. My plan is to lightly sand it with 220 and an orbital sander and to finish off the corners and edges by hand. This sole is original and the holly stripes are slightly raised to aid in maintaining your footing. I don't want to overdo the sanding and lose this feature. I plan to use Interlux Schooner varnish, mainly because I got a quart for free at Defenders spring sale two years ago. I figure it must be pretty good, it costs $32.99 .
If anyone has refinished their cabin sole I'd appreciate any advice or tips. I know it's veneer, not solid so I can't sand aggressively and I'm more than willing to live with the old battle scars. If anyone thinks Interlux Schooner is the worst possible choice of finish I'd like to know why. My badger hair brush and I are trembling with anticipation

[John Stone]

Jim
That's a tough one. Varnish is not very durable though it would look beautiful, at least initially. A tool box or any hard object like that can scratch through the varnish. You might need a decorative rug to protect the wood at the base of the companionway and to place tools on. I have a friend with a varnished sole and she has done a good job of protecting it with decorative throw rugs. It takes many coats of varnish to fill in the grain properly--7-10, but of course it depends on your standards. If the varnish is damaged through to the wood and water gets in the only recourse to make it look right is completely strip and start over, otherwise it may look patched and unsightly. This is one of those areas where I would consider oiling the wood. I'm not talking about slathering it on. I'm talking about hand rubbed oil finish. The oil is worked in to the wood with increasingly fine grades of sand paper, or some variation of that approach. It's more durable and protects the wood pretty well from staining. But you would have to be careful about the veneer. A good source that might be useful is Rebecca Wittman's book "Brightwork, The Art of Finishing Wood." It has served me well.

I think a RO sander would be very hard on the holly. You might loose the ridges. And the sander might have trouble getting in the the inside edges of the holly which would means the varnish might not adhere properly. You might be better off hand sanding with a custom block that fits between the holly ridges.

I have not used Schooner varnish but I have heard good things about it. Good luck.

[RLW]

Jim...My only concern would be leaving a gloss surface; ie slippery when wet. I know little about paints, but is this one of the uses of a flattening agent? I think it takes the gloss out, which in my mind would be safer. It also honors the rule of boats (and computers) that anything you buy (or get for free), you have to buy something else to make it work!

[joemerchant]

Schooner is good varnish, but you don't want to put it on the sole. It is too soft. You are actually better off with a cheap can of polyurethane or urethane from Home Depot as it puts down a hard coat.

To make it look good, it is actually a bigger job than you think. Best to take everything cloth out of the boat like cushions, pillows, bedding, etc. before sanding and cleaning. They capture a lot of dust. Hand rubbing urethane is a good way to fill in and keep the dirt and dust down that always seems to show up no matter how well you clean it.

[joemerchant]

Jim...My only concern would be leaving a gloss surface; ie slippery when wet. I know little about paints, but is this one of the uses of a flattening agent? I think it takes the gloss out, which in my mind would be safer. It also honors the rule of boats (and computers) that anything you buy (or get for free), you have to buy something else to make it work!

Safest method is to use a little ground walnut shell in the holy or other non-skid. Tape off the final coat for the holy, and have even seen people paint the holy using non-skid to refresh the color or even automotive pin stripping.

[John Stone]

That's a good point about the urethane. They also make some two part urethanes which I understand to be extremely durable. I think, though I am not sure, that some of the urethanes can be applied over varnish. I'd be interested to know what you decide.

[Ron M.]

I have the same teak/holly sole that was finished believe it or not, with cetol. Plenty of hair, dirt and dust mixed in.
Removed most of it with heat gun and a little stripper. Carefully sanded to 180 grit, cleaned and solvent washed, cleaned again.
Applied 5 coats helmsman satin polyurethane. Reduced the 1st coat 25%. additional coats @12%.
Rolled on with 1" foam roller and tipped with badger hair brush. Very pleased with results - did the entire interior, ceiling, bulkheads, woodwork.
Get the material on quickly and smooth out with brush
Looks fresh after 10 years,(except for dings)

[Astronomertoo]

Schooner is good varnish, but you don't want to put it on the sole. It is too soft. You are actually better off with a cheap can of polyurethane or urethane from Home Depot as it puts down a hard coat.

To make it look good, it is actually a bigger job than you think. Best to take everything cloth out of the boat like cushions, pillows, bedding, etc. before sanding and cleaning. They capture a lot of dust. Hand rubbing urethane is a good way to fill in and keep the dirt and dust down that always seems to show up no matter how well you clean it.

----------
I have not seen any polyurethane product yet that when applied to a boat outside, or to interior locations that will not eventually lift from the wood, at which time they will be ugly and very hard to remove. At least real varnishes can be sanded off or feathered for re-coating.
Best wshes
BobC

[Ron M.]

I would never recommend poly for exterior applications.sun and weather deteriorate it quickly.

[John Stone]

True. But the original post was about the interior cabin sole.

[jbenagh]

I used Interlux Perfection Plus two part. This season it has held up well. I only got four coats on last year before it got too cold (it is very sensitive to application conditions, especially humidity which makes it milky). I plan to do four more coats this fall.
The holly on my sole did not have the ridges. I don't find the varnish more slippery than the bare wood.
I did use Murphy's oil soap, then wood bleach to try to get the wood clean before I varnished. Then 220G on the wood. Interlux says 300-400G between coats just to knock off the high points. I didn't aim for perfection there.
I would recommend varnishing all the non-vertical parts of the wood; I only did the horizontal parts and plan to add the angled parts when I resume.
Jeff

[Steve Bryant]

Hi Jim,

After researching this subject to death, and based on more than a couple of recommendations I found in several boating forums, I cleaned the previously oiled cabin sole with a mixture of TSP and ammonia, sanded with 220 grit, and then applied 4 (four) coats of Epiphanes High Gloss Clear Varnish, followed by 2 (two) coats of Epiphanes Rubbed Effect Varnish. I have been very happy with the results. (The cleaning took much longer than the finish work)

The Clear Varnish, using the recommended percentage of thinner with each coat penetrated the wood well and built up a nice depth to the finish. The Rubbed Effect gave the final surface a harder, less slippery surface and made the glossy finish more of a satin finish which I preferred. Epiphanes does recommend the Rubbed Effect for cabin soles and if you have a decent base finish to start with, you may be able to skip the Clear Varnish and just apply a couple of coats of the Rubbed Effect. I started from bare wood, so I decided to go the 6 coat route.

I also used 3 coats of Minwax Helmsman Satin Polyurethane on all of the other interior wood and I'm very pleased with how it turned out, but Minwax specifically states that this product is not intended to be used as a floor finish.

Here's a link to the Epiphanes products:

https://www.epifanes.com/page/rubbed-effect

https://www.epifanes.com/page/clear-finishes

Good Luck,

[adamganz]

A couple of additional questions on the cabin sole project.

The horizontal area of the sole (teak and holly) is worn but I think will respond to a heat gun and very light sanding. That said, the angled pieces between the sole and the verticals have a yellowy/golden milky look. I'm assuming this is just old varnish and will also come off clean with the heat gun. Anyone else have this condition?

And finally, the vertical pieces of teak adjacent to the sole are not varnished. Is it necessary to protect these somehow when I'm using the heat gun?

Adam

[jbenagh]

To protect from the heat gun use one layer of blue tape covered by two layers of blue or plain white masking tape. And be a little careful not to overdo it near the taped part. A little charing of the top tape layers is OK but not the bottom one.
Jeff

[Steve Laume]

A 12" sheet rock knife with a handle will work nicely. It has enough flex to follow the curve and will dissipate the heat away from the area you want to protect. The blade will get hot so you might want to work an edge and then move into the field for a while to let it cool down. This will work best if you have three arms, Steve.