Cabin Soles Botched - Little Help?

[Talbot]

If I were doing this with varnish/urethane I would use 2 pot SP Ultravar 2000. it is extremely hard.

An alternative approach is something like danish oil.


However, If you are matching with some that is already done, you will have to use the same finish.

[ssullivan]

Not matching anything that is already done. I'm stripping all finish off the existing cabin sole, doing a light sand, then replacing the pieces that are "chipped" on the edges and otherwise not perfect.

Then, I plan to put one or two coats of the varnish/urethane or whatever on, so we can live comfortably. Over the next month, I'll pop out a piece at a time and finish it completely, by adding more coats of varnish/urethane.

This way, I can get the sole done at anchor, which is where I'll be in 3 weeks.

[Alan Wheeler]

That sounds like a good move Sean.
Question? Are you wanting a gloss finish??? Becuase if you don't, why not use an oil. A good quality oil specified for indoor floors would be a very good choice. Oil's can make timber look very smart and there is no "finish" to have to worry about. Only downside is, it would have to be re-oiled every now and then. Although internally, I imagine once a year or so.

[ssullivan]

Wheels!!! You are a genius!! It is so uncommon in my geographical area to think of a cabin sole that doesn't shine brightly, I never thought about it.

It's interesting since over the winter, we took off all of the varnish from all of the interior doors, bulkheads, etc... and we really like the look of a natural, oiled teak. It makes the boat less cold, and much much more inviting. A matte finish on the cabin sole would be ideal, since it would go so well with the rest of the wood work in the boat.

I have just done a small spot on one of the boards that we cannot reuse, and it's suprisingly not slippery at all.

Does anyone else have oiled teak cabin soles? Happy with them?

PS: Wheels... my wife says thanks! We have been wrestling with this for a while.

[GordMay]

“Southbound” had oiled teak ~ table*, trim & fiddles, plywood bulkheads, and planked hull liners in quarter & Vee berths. I liked the look, and simple maintenance. The sole was varnished, but after following this thread ...
* Most experts recommend against oiling anything the may come in contact /w food. We never had a known problem.

[ssullivan]

I am leaning toward using an oil. Maybe tung oil (chinese oil)?

Looking at the current floor, I see the scratches go right through the varnish and into the wood anyway. These are from all the construction and the previous owner. Since teak and holly plywood is only 1mm thick (the veneer), would I have to worry at all about the heavy traffic of charters wearing the wood down past the 1mm veneer?

Also, any screw ups would damage the floor, right? I will have to be very careful of any maintenance work, right?

Gord... any problems with your oiled surfaces as far as wear goes? Especially the table?

Anyone think I'm nuts to go with an oil?

I have 3 weeks left at this marina, and one of those weeks is a bottom paint and topsides wax. I have to figure this out and quick... running out of time.

[Joli]

Sorry Sean,

If you want a bristol job you are kinda stuck with strip to bare wood and varnish 8-12 coats. I guess that is why it cost more to varnish the interior of a yacht than build the hull and deck.

We like Epifanes if that helps.

Bryan

Sean, as you well know, I am a big fan of oiled wood. Easy to maintain,and I like the look. I have not had holly on my boats, so I can not speak for what the oil will do with holly.
Also consider, at least with teak, you can always varnish after you oil, but you can not oil after you varnish without stripping the wood. Oil some sample pieces, and see if you like the look

[Alan Wheeler]

Oil does several things to the wood that a hard finih will not. Mostly, it stop the timber from drying. Thus, the timber can actually be more forgiving to knocks and dings. The surface can "bounce back". Scratches and marks are easier to get rid of with another rub over. Infact, some smaller marks can infact disappear with time as the wood swells out. If you have a deep scratch or mark, a little hot water on a cloth left sitting on the mark will sometimes cause it to lift out. All things that simply can't be done with a hard finish. If you mark a hard finish, and it is a major repair and with only a mm of timber vineer, you ain't going to sand to much of a ding out in the future.
If you want a very simple easy to apply finish, this is the way to go. It doesn't stink and as Kai said, hey if you don't like it, then simply urathane over it sometime when you have more time.
Their are also plenty of oils out there that a natural bases. I wouldnt' go drinking the stuff, but they are quite safe to eat off. Linceed oil is one for instance.

A wee tip. (I wouldn't go doing this on your floor unless you test it first.) I went a mixture of 50/50 Linceed oil and WD40 and applied it to my teak duck board. I will post a photo of it next week. I really like the way it came up. As for long term exposure to the elements, I will keep you posted. I went with this because it was cheap. Teak oils for outside use are damn expensive here.

[GordMay]

I forget exactly what light oil we used inside, but it’s a very easy job to “touch up” those spots that suffer a little wear (the perfect handhold). You cannot do that with varnish. Otherwise we oiled about once a year - about a couple of hours to wash and oil.
I wonder if it might accumulate dirt, used on the floor?

[Talbot]

As my suggestion of danish oil seems to have started an alternative discussion, has anyone any experience of whether coelan would be a suitable treatment?

[ssullivan]

Sorry, Robert. I must have overlooked your original suggestion of Danish Oil. I'm going to have a look at some websites discussing the application of Danish Oil now.

[ssullivan]

Done. I found that Danish Oil is a combination of oils containing linseed oil, which I cannot use. Linseed oil darkens considerably over time, and that's definitley a look I'm trying not to have. I want to tone of the wood to remain close to natural teak, as is the rest of our newly-done interior.

Wheels... I have a couple of different choices here, and I hope I can get some input:

1) Teak Oil - Teak oils, like those used on the rest of our interior don't really seem to make any kind of protective layer at all. They keep the water away, and seem to keep dirt at bay, but it's definitely just wood that you are touching. Is this the kind of surface you were speaking of in your last post?

2) Tung Oil - Tung oil was used in China for centuries and I think is the original wood finish. It actualy has polymer chains in it that oxidize and form something of a urethane, but at zero gloss. So there is a bit of a protective layer between the wood and the person damaging it. Linseed oil is the same type of oil. It also oxydizes and forms a protective layer, but tends to darken over time.

3) Combinations - Apparently, you can combine any oils and varnishes together with thinners, etc... to come up with the characteristics you want.

Do you have any guidance to the kinds of "floor oils" you mentioned earlier? Are they tung oils? I have seen tung oils used on floors, and they are much like a urethane without any type of gloss or even semi gloss. Here is a link:

http://www.realmilkpaint.com/oil.html

Check out the wood floor in the photos on the right side of the page. They look great.

[Talbot]

Tung oil is present in a lot of the better quality varnishes, but does tend to darken the wood.

Here is a bit of data on Coelan http://www.mrsimpson.co.uk/ghost/coelan.htm

[ssullivan]

Originally Posted by Talbot

Tung oil is present in a lot of the better quality varnishes, but does tend to darken the wood.

Here is a bit of data on Coelan http://www.mrsimpson.co.uk/ghost/coelan.htm

I'm not sure if we call it a different thing, but on this side of the pond, what we call Linseed Oil darkens over time, while Tung Oil does not. Linseed oil is used in the Dutch Oil.

Thanks.