[Rhodes22-list] Jbconnolly

[Mary Lou Troy]

At 08:59 AM 6/8/2009, Jim wrote:
>  For the list: My tiller is a bit "chalky" 
> looking after five years.  The coating on it 
> seems very thick, more like an epoxy clear coat 
> than a varnish.  Has anyone refinished theirs?  If so, with what product?

We sanded ours down and varnished it probably 7 
or 8 years ago. 5 or 6 coats of varnish. sanded 
between coats. The full brightwork routine. Nice 
winter project. Used real varnish vs Cetol or the 
like. We keep it covered with a sunbrella cover 
when not in use. Looked fabulous when first done 
and for the first couple of years. Still looks 
very good though it has a few scratches and dings 
and probably ought to be redone.

>The hinged cabin door is sun-bleached and 
>blotchy on one side, also.  It is made of two 
>pieces of ~3/8 plywood with a piano hinge and a 
>wooden cleat (carpentry cleat, not nautical 
>cleat) drilled for socket for the leg.  I would 
>like the plastic door, but $350 is not in this 
>year's budget.  I may just flip it over, but 
>would like to refinish it.  Anyone done this, 
>and with what? I have the black plastic tracks 
>for the cabin door as well as the white plastic 
>tracks for the sliding hatch, already.

Our hinged door is Starboard. It's heavy but 
requires no maintenance and looks almost brand 
new in spite of being casually thrown under the 
seats whenever we use the boat. The tracks are 
wood. We have an old quart can of West Marine 
Teak Treatment (similar to Cetol but  think it 
was made for them by Armada) that we use on the 
tracks and on the wood trim in the cockpit. The 
can was last used two or three years ago (it was 
used before that and is probably 7 or 8 years 
old) and it's time to do a light sanding and add 
another coat. It takes a while to dry (probably 
because of its age) but it seemed to work ok. 
We'll see if I can get another use out of it.  We 
also made a mahogany kickplate for the forward 
end of the cockpit (holds the centerboard line). 
It gets the West Teak Treatment as well. We also 
varnished  (real varnish) the plywood table (that 
doubles as the cabin bunk filler). It has held up 
very well and looks great. If anyone tries this 
be aware that you have to clean it well and sand 
VERY lightly or you go right through the fake teak pattern.

Mary Lou
1991 R22  Fretless
Rock Hall, MD