Trouble refinishing sole – wet spot

[JIvories]

I am refinishing the sole on my S2 9.2A. Have removed old varnish, sanded lightly, and bleached. Most of it looks ready to polyurethane (recommended because tougher finish). I was hoping to refinish without taking the sole out. I looks daunting, but it is a must?

But I have a bigger problem: there are almost always wet spots, where the teak and holly sole wicks up moisture from somewhere. I can't see water under settees, or behind bulkheads. don't know where this water comes from.

It's in the corners, or near edges, not everywhere. But I can't polyurethane with those wets spots.

Do I have to remove the sole to do it right? Seal the top and the bottom?
If so, is it hard to take sole out? I don't even see how it is fixed to bottom joists.


Any help appreciated!

[Paul L]

You can refinish it in place. Get yourself a couple of the bright construction lights available at hardware stores. This will help a lot in getting good smooth coverage.
I'd encourage you to hold up the process and find where this water is getting in before going further.

[coopec43]

QUOTE:Hi, I have a 1985 S2 9.2 Aft cockpit. The teak and holly cabin sole became water stained from water seeping in along the edge as condensate from the boat drained down and into the lockers adjacent to the floor. I have already sanded and bleached it once and the veneer is sanded through in areas so I'm faced with replacing the floor.

I notice that it is nailed down. Has anyone accomplished the removal and replacement of such a floor? Precautions? Suggestions? I need to order new teak and holly plywood...should I go with 1/4" thick or go thicker?

Thanks a bunch!

Skippie10

Joined Mar 11, 2013

57 posts, 0 likes


S2 9.2
US Port Washington, WI



https://forums.sailboatowners.com/index.php?threads/cabin-sole-replacement.166622/

[billknny]

Originally Posted by Paul L

You can refinish it in place. Get yourself a couple of the bright construction lights available at hardware stores. This will help a lot in getting good smooth coverage.
I'd encourage you to hold up the process and find where this water is getting in before going further.

If the sole is chronically wet from unknown leaks, even if you can dry the surface enough to slap on a finish you are wasting your time. The finish will fail and the wood will rot--if it is not rotten already.

You HAVE to find fix the leaks. They can be hard to find, but they should definitely take priority over the shiny sole. Rule ONE of sailing: Keep the water on the outside of the boat.

Another consideration to chase down is to see if this is condensation on the hull. I once worked on a Sabre where the sole was glassed to the hull all the way round. Any condensation on the hull did not run to the bilge, as it should, but down onto, and eventually soaking into, the wood sole. A very dumb design.

[Sailorbob8599]

My very first thought after reading description of problem was as described by 'Coopec43' in post #3. Quote: "The teak and holly cabin sole became water stained from water seeping in along the edge as condensate from the boat drained down and into the lockers adjacent to the floor."

Sure sounds like a condensate problem to me. In order to resolve, & prevent a reoccurrence of this type of problem, I'm of the opinion the sole needs to be removed, thoroughly dried out, & seal the edges with a good coat of epoxy. Might not hurt to coat the underside too.

[dakno]

Sounds like a big project removing the sole. If you have mostly eliminated leaks and dried bilges try controlling the interior with space heater, heat lamp, or dehumidifier, one of these will tryout your interior and then go for it. New polys dry in 2 hrs.

[Cheechako]

Heat the boat, cover it with a blue tarp until dry. You cant remove all the sole anyway can you?

[davido]

I think you have gotten good advice so far. Let me offer up another "possibility", one that I encountered recently.

Let me be clear, I am NOT saying this is your problem, but rather it is a "possibility".

My story. I recently started a project to refinish some interior teak trim on an overhead hatch. The trim had lost most of its varnish and appeared to be essentially water logged. Obviously needed to be dry to refinish, so I used a hairdryer to dry the teak, which took a significant amount of time. The next day the teak would once again appear to be completely saturated with water. I was convinced the teak had become waterlogged. I dried it again and the next day it was again soaked. Again and again I repeated the process. I scratched my head trying to figure out how much water could actually be stored inside the teak and what else might cause the situation. Then it dawned on me, the teak was not saturated with water, but saturated with salt. The salt would pull the moisture from the air after each drying and saturate the surface of the teak. I took a brush and lots of fresh water and scrubbed the teak and rinsed repeatedly. I then used Salt-Away on it twice and let it dry naturally. Thereafter it stayed dry. It was a normal firm piece of teak that days later I refinished.

So, I would submit for consideration the "possibility" that you have accumulated salt in the sole that is keeping those areas wet by pulling moisture from the air. Is it it possible to test a small area and see what result it produces? May be worth a try.

Hope you let us all know what you ultimately find as the problem and cure.

Best of luck to you.

[JIvories]

Just a follow-up and thanks for these helpful suggestions. Davido's suggestions for getting salt out is interesting, but I'm more convinced now that the boat has a design flaw, where condensate runs down to sole instead of bilge.
Since my initial post (see top, JIvories), I realized I need to repack my chain plates. There's moisture getting in. But looking at hull behind settees and in lockers, I do not see traces of water running down. I did realize that I never quite dry the bilge. There's always been some water down there. Is this the culprit? Either way, it sounds as though the only way to really fix the problem is to take out the sole and seal it all around. Not looking forward to it, but I'll do what it takes. Would appreciate any help with getting removing the sole. Will search for postings about that.

Thanks.

[gonesail]

depending on how old the boat is: the floor may have gotten damp over the years from small bits of moisture. this may come from water sloshing around due to a shallow bilge. not sure if you can stop it.

you need to replace the wood before varnishing it. theoretically the new wood would resist soaking up moisture for a long time. also varnish is preferred over polyurethane since it provides better footing.

[JIvories]

[ATTACH][/ATTACH]

This is what the wet spots look like, consistently. If I dry them out with heat, they come back in the same areas. Just wondering if it looks like a condensation problem, or coming from a wet bilge (just a little water down there the pump doesn't get to, and a deep bilge so way down there), or a leak. But I can't see where leaks are coming from. Hull behind settees looks dry. The water is mostly in the edges and corners as you can see.