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Bulkhead refinishing

lonokai

Member III
I’ve toyed with the idea of totally removing the bulkhead and sanding it and refinishing it… But I’m not sure I’m up to that task, so I’ve also been thinking about doing it in place, but I’m concerned about the amount of dust that will be generated by sanding inside the boat.

I think it would be a shame to paint it… But I’m open to any thoughts about how to bring it back.

And does anybody know what kind of oil/finish was used on the original boat’s interiors?
 

Loren Beach

O34 - Portland, OR
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
All of our bulkheads are tabbed into place. We did strip and refinish them, in place. Lots of masking tape and paper and some plastic was used. Wet rags were used to apply the cleaner and neutralizer.

I used a "dustless" sander (a small Fein vac that uses a large paper filter bag). This allowed us to tack off and varnish immediately after sanding. That model has a pickup hose that attaches to our quarter sheet sander.

Some commentary here:
http://www.ericsonyachts.org/infoexchange/entry.php?107-Another-Fall-Another-Bulkhead

Not really difficult, just tedious. The result will really make you smile, tho!
:)
 

toddster

Curator of Broken Parts
Blogs Author
Dunno... bulkheads on my 71 are a little weird. Stuff below the waterline - part of the hull piece - tend to be tabbed pieces of plywood. But there should be more of them. The bigger mahogany bulkheads in the cabin are mostly screwed into slots in the liner pieces. One of them is not fastened to anything at the bottom - something I’ll correct one of these days. But I’m not sure if they can be easily removed - the deck liner was probably installed down on top of them and holds them captive.

I think we need detailed pics of the bulkhead in question to formulate an opinion.
 

sharonov

Member II
...And does anybody know what kind of oil/finish was used on the original boat’s interiors?
On my boat it is oil, not varnish. Don't know what was original oil but it probably does not matter. When we got her the wood seemed to be in a poor condition but an application of oil worked wonders and brought it back. Now, I expect you may hear a lot of advice to use lemon oil which by the way has nothing to do with real lemon except the smell. Well, that worked really really well... for about two weeks. Then I had to do it again.. and again.. and again. Untill it clicked that there's gotta be a better way, that lemon oil is way too light and evaporates quickly. My solution is to cut it 50/50 with tung oil. You get all the benefits of lemon oil and staying power of tung oil.
 

lonokai

Member III
Oops forgot photos

Here’s the bulkhead in question.
 

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Loren Beach

O34 - Portland, OR
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
Boat now upright

Picture Rotated.
Mahogany is a pretty wood.
 

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Christian Williams

E381 - Los Angeles
Senior Moderator
Blogs Author
On a 1975 boat I doubt it's original finish. Looks like quite a history on there.

Loren has done this as I recall, but for me the question is--is this laminate over plywood. Probably is. That means a thin skin that can't be brutally sanded.

Anyhow, the bulkhead is something to work on in place, not remove. I'd start with household cleaners and degreasers. Maybe a test swipe with acetone on a rag to remove what looks like Minwood stain.

The trick is getting a uniform color tone, which is tough when shadows and stains have been there for years.

After cleaning and non-aggressive sanding, wipe the surface with alcohol. In the moment before the alcohol flashes off, you have a good approximation of what the surface looks like when varnished.

If satisfied, try Interlux satin varnish. It's nonreflective, forgiving of imperfections, and has the familiar varnish property of turning wood slightly amber.

If not satisifed, you can put new veneer on the bulkhead.

For all of this sort of work the cushions need to be stowed elsewhere or covered in plastic, and so does anything else that isn't easily vacuumed afterwards. A bit of such prep shortens the cleanup.
 
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G Kiba

Sustaining Member
Why not veneer over the old veneer! I think it is Philippine mahogany which also goes by another name I can't remember.
 

Kevin A Wright

Member III
I just sanded down and refinished the panels in my V berth and head. In the head had to replace some with a new veneer due to excessive water damage from an old leak which had bubbled the original veneer off the plywood. For that I peeled the old veneer off, faired any rough spots with 5 minute epoxy, and covered with PSA backed fresh veneer before refinishing.

On the sanding I used a 5" orbital sander hooked up to a small shop vac. Was some dust but really not bad. But you MUST be careful not to over sand and go through the veneer. After that I used a Varathane spar polyurethane. Has additives to give it the flexibility of a varnish with the durability of polyurethane. We'll see how it hold up over time, but since it's an interior application I doubt there will be a problem.

Just remember, many thin coats. Not one thick one.....

Kevin Wright
E35 Hydro Therapy
 

kapnkd

kapnkd
I’ve toyed with the idea of totally removing the bulkhead and sanding it and refinishing it… But I’m not sure I’m up to that task, so I’ve also been thinking about doing it in place, but I’m concerned about the amount of dust that will be generated by sanding inside the boat.

I think it would be a shame to paint it… But I’m open to any thoughts about how to bring it back.

And does anybody know what kind of oil/finish was used on the original boat’s interiors?

Our ‘73 E32-II originally had Mahogany veneered non marine plywood. They rested in place in the cabin top liner and were tabbed in place with glass at the bottom. I would caution you the Mahogany veneer is thin so don’t over sand them as it’s easy to burn through the veneer.

We replaced all our bulkheads some time back with Mahogany veneered marine plywood then stained them with MinWax “Gunstock 231” color. ...It had more of the red Mahogany coloring we wanted. I’ll post a photo or two later for you. We went ahead and applied a satin varnish in lieu of an oiled finish to better seal and protect the wood. (We also resin coated the chain plate holes to further keep any possible leaks from soaking the wood. (Really DON’T want to do this project ever again!) :)

(See my below "Reply" for added photos of our New Bulkhead Project.)
 
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kapnkd

kapnkd
Our ‘73 E32-II originally had Mahogany veneered non marine plywood. They rested in place in the cabin top liner and were tabbed in place with glass at the bottom. I would caution you the Mahogany veneer is thin so don’t over sand them as it’s easy to burn through the veneer.

We replaced all our bulkheads some time back with Mahogany veneered marine plywood then stained them with MinWax “Gunstock 231” color. ...It had more of the red Mahogany coloring we wanted. I’ll post a photo or two later for you. We went ahead and applied a satin varnish in lieu of an oiled finish to better seal and protect the wood. (We also resin coated the chain plate holes to further keep any possible leaks from soaking the wood. (Really DON’T want to do this project ever again!) :)

(See my below "Reply" for added photos of our New Bulkhead Project.)

...Here's 3 photos of our new bulkheads. ...It started with one lower shroud that had leaked and there being some dry rot around the chain plate bolt holes. The decision to splice in a piece or replace the whole bulkhead turned into "Let's do it RIGHT" ...and then the infamous - "WHILE WE'RE AT IT" - leading to pulling the other side followed by the main bulkheads as well.

Now that we're done - it WAS worth it and as you can see in the first photo of the port side, we tabbed in the bulkhead EXTRA good - and on BOTH sides.

New Blkhd Port.jpgNew Blkhds in Place.jpgNew Comressionn Post-LR.jpg
 
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