Stripping Cetol

[Jim Walsh]

I’ve been busy since the first week in September attending to Orion’s brightwork. It’s an onerous task (interspersed with day sails) but the end is near. After stripping with a heat gun and scrapers, the lightest possible sanding, plugging and bunging some old scars, it’s finally time to apply the finish of choice. For me it’s Cetol Light once again. All I need now are four decent application days and it’s time to do some sailing.

[Frenchy]

Nice job, Jim. I see you have some "fine" equipment on hand and a fine go-with work ethic.
- Jean

[ghockaday]

Thats gonna look good when you're done. Teak looks so good but hurts so bad to make it look nice. Dennis

[wikakaru]

Wow, what a lot of work, Jim! Nice results so far with minimal loss of the teak.

Have you ever tried StrypEeze? I've used it on varnish but never on Cetol.

Personally I'm a varnish guy, but when we bought our CD22 last year she was done with Cetol, and we kind of put sailing ahead of teak maintenance this year, so next spring we're probably going to have to go through what you're doing now.

Smooth sailing,

--Jim

[Jim Walsh]

Wow, what a lot of work, Jim! Nice results so far with minimal loss of the teak.

Have you ever tried StrypEeze? I've used it on varnish but never on Cetol.

Personally I'm a varnish guy, but when we bought our CD22 last year she was done with Cetol, and we kind of put sailing ahead of teak maintenance this year, so next spring we're probably going to have to go through what you're doing now.

Smooth sailing,

--Jim

Thanks. I used Zip Strip years ago on a very detailed turn-of-the-century mantle. The great part was it got into every nook and cranny, the not so great part was that it was very messy and aggressive. The heat gun and scraper work fine without harming anything other than your immediate work surface.

[jbenagh]

Jim,
I think I'm due for cockpit coamings this year. It should have been last year but COVID shut the boatyard. I haul end of Oct. I think heat is the best. Good to see your progress.
Jeff

[gates_cliff]

I have what may seem to sound like a question that might have an " intuitively obvious answer to the casual,observer", but erring on the side of caution here goes. Is it safe to apply heat to narrow strips of teak, like eyebrows and rub rails? My concern is overheating the surrounding fiberglass.

[J Stevenson]

For several years, I have used an adjustable temperature heat gun along with a set of nozzles. With the right nozzle and running the gun above 500 F, I had not had any problems in keeping the heat safely directed at the Cetol.

[jbenagh]

Cliff,
I generally mask with 3-4 layers of tape on the surrounding glass. I'll use 4 if I think the scraper might hit it hard, like in a challenging corner. I often use good tape first followed by regular masking tape the next layers. Seems to protect it fine. You're not really on any one spot very long once you've had a little practice. If you notice charring on the tape you're going too slowly.
Jeff

[bgephart]

Cliff - I was inspired by Jim Walsh's note above to strip Cetol from my 1979 CD-25 using a scraper and heat gun - first time I have ever tried. It is going well, but I quickly learned not to let the heat gun blow for long on the narrow strips you mentioned - eyebrows and rub rails. I had my boat painted earlier this year with Perfection, and a couple of times early on with the heat gun I was too slow, and the paint bubbled up. I quickly caught it, and it seems to be OK, but I keep the heat gun moving now and no further problems.

Bob Gephart - Savannah, GA

[gates_cliff]

Thanks for the replies. I really like jbenagh's idea of multiple layers of masking tape. In addition, I'll be very cautious.

Last spring I repainted the boot stripe. There had been a strip of white tape separating boot stripe. It was old, cracked dirty and generally in appealing. I did use my heat gun sparingly to get that off.

[Steve Laume]

You can also hold a paint shield or wide sheet rock knife up against the edge to protect the glass. This is much faster than taping. The knife will get hot after a while so it might pay to have two of them and switch off.

[gates_cliff]

Thanks Steve, that's what I've done in the past but always worried I might still be getting fiberglass too hot. I'm going to try the masking tape approach with the eyebrows. That's such a narrow surface I'd worry about overheating.