[Rhodes22-list] Jbconnolly

[David Bradley]

I pulled my tiller out to refinish it this spring and found that there
was quite a bit of dry rot in the area where the through bolt attaches
the tiller to the rudder head.  I ordered a new tiller from Stan and
after drilling sealed the interior surfaces with epoxy.  Adding
several coats of varnish on top of the factory finish.

My boat stays in the water all winter and it's a pretty rainy climate
here so I've probably got a worst case scenario for water wicking into
the tiller through the mast head.  I'm going to figure out a way to
cover the rudder head and motor controls this time around.  The
off-the-shelf tiller covers won't work - will require some creative
trimming of Sunbrella.  Anybody done that?

Dave


On Mon, Jun 8, 2009 at 8:06 AM, Mary Lou Troy<mtroy at atlanticbb.net> wrote:
> 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
>
>
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-- 
David Bradley
+1.206.234.3977
dwbrad at gmail.com