Don't ever be afraid to make something for your boat. I made some home made sheet blocks for my boat (Deja vu) over thirty years ago with teak cheeks, tuffnol castors and stainless steel beckets and copper rivets, and they are still going strong today.
great idea
ReplyDeleteMost items on a sailboat take a beating, either from over use, the elements, usual wear and tear etc. There are a number of fittings we can make ourselves in a small work shop that can be a lot stronger than some store bought fittings. Cleats for example can be jigsawed or band sawed out of some solid hard wood, Ipe, Tigerwood, ironwood, lignum vitae for example. They can be filed and sanded to shape, varnished or oiled or left natural and screwed on to a mast, coach roof, cockpit surface with a dollop of Marinetex or similar bedding compound and 316 stainless steel screws. They look beautiful, and will be there for a long time. They wont get all brittle and crack up in the sun like some of the store bought ones ;)_the same goes for coach roof grab rails, ventilator boxes, tillers, etc...
ReplyDeleteVarnishing again?? I discovered a nifty piece of advice for varnishing which also serves as a great foundation for a paint job as well. Obviously prep work is the key to a great paint job, and particularly if it is part of the bright work on a highly visible part of your boat. This tip applies to bare wood, but it could also work on well sanded and dust free varnish or paint work. If you are varnishing an oily wood like teak or ipe or similar, take some acetone, (wear dish washing gloves, and be quick as it will eat these up like it does all rubber and latex gloves ;) and thoroughly wipe down the wood to be painted or varnished. Be liberal with the acetone as you want it to soak into the job and eat up all the oils and also remove any traces of dust and silicones etc. When that is dry within a half an hour, waste no time in putting on now a coat of epoxy that has been thinned down about 20 to 30% with denatured alcohol.
ReplyDeleteThe alcohol makes the epoxy thin and liquidy and is much more likely to soak into all the pores of the wood and then will evaporate leaving behind the epoxy that has now been left harmlessly behind in the pores and fissures of the wood.
I would allow 24 hours to let this set off nice and hard, then sand lightly with some 340 grit sand paper or similar, just enough to remove nibs and blobs. Follow up with another coat of thinned epoxy (denatured alcohol) but only about 10% this time. Repeat the sanding procedure after another 24 hours, then build up your usual layers of varnish. make sure that you use exterior grade marine varnish as it carries ultra violet screening properties to protect the epoxy, which now will really grip onto any wood that you apply it to with this method. I usually put on no less than four coats of unthinned varnish. Sanding between coats either with wire wool or 340 grit sand paper. The epoxy base works great with normal paint as well, it basically provides a very strong sticking, resilient foundation for paint or varnish...
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ReplyDeleteIt's a freebie today on amazon.com and the numbers are up to 1, 884 :)get your copy free while you can!! http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0070F2TL6
ReplyDelete