Sam's is your source for Hatteras and Cabo Yacht parts.

Enter a part description OR part number to search the Hatteras/Cabo parts catalog:

Email Sam's or call 1-800-678-9230 to order parts.

Cleaning interior wood and paneling What works best?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Vincentc
  • Start date Start date
  • Replies Replies 30
  • Views Views 15,420
Vincentc

Vincentc

Legendary Member
Joined
Jun 3, 2008
Messages
1,514
Status
  1. OWNER - I own a Hatteras Yacht
Hatteras Model
43' DOUBLE CABIN (1970 - 1984)
The interior teak and Afromosia veneer is 30 years old, and discolored. Murphy Wood Soap does not phase it.

I suspect the old sealer needs to come off and the wood deep cleaned. I have read through the relevant posts I could find.

My thoughts run to a varnish stripper followed by wood bleach, light sanding, and fresh sealer or varnish.

Products considered to remove the original DuPont sealer include citrus strip, Formby wood refinisher, denatured alcohol and scrubbing with bronze wool or scotchbrite pads.

With the sealer off, cleaning with a one part teak cleaner like Losso or oxalitic acid to remove the dark spots.

I worry about fumes, mess, and ruining the veneer.

Suggestions please,

Thanks
 
vincent, i used a cleaner called totally awesome, i got it at the dollar general for 1 buck a bottle. spray it on, scrub with a maroon 3m scotchpad, wipe clean with plenty of water soaked paper towels, let dry then varnish. scrub with the grain. all discoloration was gone leaving veneer that looked like it was freshly sanded.
 
Vincent, Before you go too far, try simple Windex, or better yet, denatured alcohol. It will tend to leave the finish looking splotchy but this becomes uniform after a coat of Watco Teak Oil. This worked well for us when we bought the boat. Areas around cabinet door knobs might need some extra work, like rubbing lightly with alcohol-soaked FINE bronze wool.

BTW, if you like the effect and use the Watco oil, don't trust the dry times on the directions too much. I find allowing more time between coats leaves a harder surface which cleans really easily.

Bob
 
Thanks,
I will give your suggestions a try.
I covered the hole where the stereo was with new varnished veneer and it highlighted hoe bad the old wood looked.
 
After some experimenting, I found that Bills Dollar Store cleaner degreaser worked well with my old wood. The routine is to spray a section with degreaser, let stand a few minutes, then scrub with a Scotch brite pad, then wipe down with a wet towel a few times. I follow the degreaser with a detergent, bleach and water solution then rinse will. the few remaining black spots are cleaned with oxalitic acid solution followed with Borax and water to neutralize the acid. I have someone working on this today and hope to sand and apply a coat of varnish tomorrow.
 
you can get tsp many places, home depot etc...

used denatured alcohol as it leaves nothing behind and it sucked the oils out of the surface prior to applying pettit ez wood sealer, followed by v 975 satin sheen varnish and captains varnish trim
 

Attachments

  • IMG_6987.webp
    IMG_6987.webp
    67.2 KB · Views: 454
If you have a heavy build up of teak or other oil, try 1 part Roma laundry detergent (find it at amazon), I part baking soda, and 1 part white vinegar. Apply paste, wait about 20 min or so, then rinse it thoroughly with water. Allow to dry. This will take off all the old and lighten wood. May need to sand some spots depending on its condition. Then finish with desired product. Opinions vary, but varnish can be difficult. Personally I like the idea of minwax oil with some red mahogany stain in it. Easy, and you don't have to breath the varnish fumes for days between multiple coats. good luck.
 
The interior refinish project is moving along. After the wood dried we sanded with 180 grit paper on a 1/2 sheet random orbital sander then followed with gloss varnish. I found the Minwax Spar varnish was easier to apply and looked as good as the Petit Captains varnish I started with. It is also less than 1/2 the cost. We have cleaned and put one coat on the Saloon, and it looks good. The gloss makes things brighter.
I will try to have a second coat put on today with pictures to follow.
 
Vincentc said:
The interior refinish project is moving along. After the wood dried we sanded with 180 grit paper on a 1/2 sheet random orbital sander then followed with gloss varnish. I found the Minwax Spar varnish was easier to apply and looked as good as the Petit Captains varnish I started with. It is also less than 1/2 the cost. We have cleaned and put one coat on the Saloon, and it looks good. The gloss makes things brighter.
I will try to have a second coat put on today with pictures to follow.
Click to expand...

just dont use that minwax on exterior .. will last half as long as captains and a 1/3 as long as flagship varnish!
 
I created a test panel from a piece of afromosia paneling taken from the fwd cabin closet back. I tried various method of cleaning the panel and then applied 6 different finishes using what I had on hand:
Captains Varnish Clear
Captains Varnish Traditional
Minwax Gloss
Olympic Gloss
Formby Tung Oil Finish
Minwax Tung Oil Finish

Other than gloss between the tung oil and the varnishes, I could not see much difference after one coat.


There was a difference in application between the varnishes, Minwax was the easiest to apply and dried fastest. According to a Practical Sailor magazine test, Minwax spar varnish fared well as an exterior finish. Still, I will stick with Interlux Schooner, my favorite (which is not available at the local boat supply place) or Pettit (which is) for exterior use.

The paneling did not lighten as much as I hoped, but did look better. The varnish did darken things. This is a photo of the stbd side where one half has been varnished. There is old water damage between the windows which does not show when blocked by a fabric panel.

 
Last edited:
I trust impractical sailor as far as I can throw them. their tests are not real life. they actually rate cetol as the best coating for wood.thats ridiculous.
and they rate two part varnishes without considering wood movement or having to eventually remove the crap.
the entire interior uses about 2 quarts of varnish , about 30 bucks more than minwax ..I dunno , maybe ill stick with a 150 year old marine paint company . :)
 
Thanks very much for posting this, Vincent. Very useful to me!

DAN
 
We recently finished our interior re-varnish project, the wood was looking dry in a few spots in the forward stateroom, and the salon window sills needed a maintenance coat, so "while we're in there" reared it's ugly head and....
All the veneer got several coats of Watco semi gloss hard oil, and all the teak trim/doors got 5+ coats of Epiphanes gloss varnish for a two tone look. All the drawers, closets and lockers in the entire boat were also done inside and out, as well as the engine room/pump room entries/stairs.
The wood really "pops" now :)
While we were at it, all the bilges/lazarette/chain locker got a fresh coat of gloss white.

It never ends does it?
 
mdshore said:
they rate two part varnishes without considering wood movement or having to eventually remove the crap.
Click to expand...

Removing two-part varnishes is easy. I just learned the technique from my neighbor's caretaker who spends 24/7/365 taking care of the most beautiful boat on the dock. Wave a heat gun, on high, over the area without pausing, and when it bubbles, run a 90° scraper over it. It comes of in one swipe, completely with no damage to the wood beneath at all. Very little sanding to do afterwards. I removed all of the two-part varnish (Bristol Finish) on my aft deck hand rails in about 20 minutes. I had to take it back down to the bare wood, because I haven't touched it in six years, and those rails are not covered to hide from the South Florida sun. I'm guilty...but that is quite a testament to the Bristol Finish product - I was only trying to repair a few blemishes and decided to take it all down. Tomorrow, I'll be applying 3 coats of West 207, followed with Awlgrip clear topcoat and see how that holds up in the brutal sun. I still have Bristol Finish on my other stuff...I just want to test the different products in my environment.

By the way, I HATE to varnish, but I adore the varnished wood. So, I try to find stuff that give me years of service without having to mess with it.
 
Last edited:
I've put things back together in the saloon. There are 3 coats of varnish on the cabinet doors.





Some of the cabinet doors were varnished with Captain's Varnish, and some with Minwax Spar Varnish. The less expensive varnish was much easier to apply and looked the same. ( The lower of the 2 pictures above contains 2 Captain's doors and 2 Minwax doors. I cannot tell any difference. I suspect either varnish should last the rest of my lifetime inside the cabin.

You might have noticed that one of the doors is noticeably lighter. That door is from the lower stbd side of the fwd bulkhead and covers the access hole to the CO2 bottle. I suspect that this door had significantly less sun exposure over the past 30 years than the other doors which were on either the port or stbd side. I hope to attach some Phifer Tex covers over the cabin windows.

I have used about a gallon of varnish so far. The material cost difference is about $40 for Minwax by the gallon vs $120 for Captains by the quart. I do not recommend "cheap" materials which ultimately cost more, but considering the interior application and ease of application, I will use Minwax for the rest of the interior varnish work. BTW, the doors were laid horizontal for varnishing, which made it about as easy as possible for varnish work, yet the Captains challenged my limited varnish skills and that of my less experienced helper who I relied upon for most of the cleaning and varnishing.

 
Last edited:
Painting the chain locker ? Really ? You all are making my OCD flare up! And here I thought I was taking reasonable care of my boat... Bilges are on the distant to-do list but I honestly never thought about painting the chain locker!

Cheryl
Cinderella
1971 53 MY
 
"run a 90° scraper over it"
Ang, can you provide details about the scapper you use for this? Metal? Wood? plastic? There a lot of different tools that could be tried for this, but is sounds like you have found one that works, at least for the rails. I am worried about damage to the wood and could use the details to select my scaping tools from your experience.
 
Is that the scraper withe the replacement blades? There's a bolt that holds the scraper to the end of the handle, at 90 degrees?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Forum statistics

Threads
38,127
Messages
448,401
Members
12,481
Latest member
mrich1

Latest Posts

Trending content

Back
Top Bottom