How to strip an epoxy covered sole

[jpendoley]

Hello boatrites,
I am refitting the interior of a Pearson 365. It has a unique floor, looks like parquet, solid lumber in the form of blocks,-about 2”x4” teak blocks (I think it’s teak) and they appear to be covered in epoxy. It’s a tough covering-I am considering going at it with a floor edging sander. Before I do something foolish, thought I would check with the group to get advice and admonitions. After three months of paint and epoxy drips, tool drops and years of abuse it looks pretty tough. How would you all recommend I tackle it?

[JPA Cate]

Unless you know for sure it is epoxy, my guess is that someone who would put in a fancy flooring like that, would also use gymnasium varnish on it. Epoxy degrades from UV, and enough UV would get in through the hatch and port lights to bother it, so I doubt it is epoxy, although it may have been epoxy sealed prior to varnishing.

Me, I'd try cleaning it, first and see what happens. If you want to re-finish it, consider using varnish stripper, it might lift off the paint and epoxy, with the varnish. You'll have to scrape and hand sand the corners. We have a friend who filled the tool dings with clear epoxy, and planed it smooth. Got lovely smooth finishes. A word of caution. Another mate did 12 coats of varnish on the cabin sole of his I-36, and it was slick as anything when wet. It was great to look at, but.....consider thinking about how people's boat shoes or wet bare feet will slip, and think up a way to introduce non-skid in a regular pattern that will be unobtrusive. It is rare to have non-skid below, but two very nice boats we've known had a variant: one, the whole sole was unfinished teak; the other, the holly was left standing proud a bit on a teak and holly sole.

Ann