With all the interior work finished, it’s time to focus on the pretty part. It’s time to finish stripping the hull, repair holes and dings, and stain the hull. All this precedes the varnishing phase. I use the most aggressive chemical stripper I can find (Jasco brand) and let it do the work for me. I slap it on liberally and let it sit there awhile and eat away the old varnish. You can actually hear and see it doing this if you watch closely.
So the first step is to mask off the areas of the boat where we don’t want the stripper to land. It can really create problems if it goes somewhere it’s not supposed to.
Then apply the stripper liberally and let it do the work for you. You can just scrape the old finish off with a plastic paddle, and maybe a little brushing with a nylon brush. The varnish comes off pretty readily. The seam caulk is what takes time, and several more applications of stripper.
Finally, the old finish is completely removed, and we’re ready to fix any imperfections and old screw holes. I mark everything with blue tape, then go back and address them. I fill dings with Famowood, which takes stain nicely. Any screw holes are plugged with epoxy and toothpicks. Nothing is more frustrating than trying to drive a wood screw in old wood to find that it won’t hold. Time to fix this stuff is now, before the new finish goes on.
Then the hull is sanded with 80 grit. You want a fairly coarse grain for the filler stain to adhere to. The filler stain we used is Interlux 1579 Red Mahogany. There are several shades available, and this one most closely matched the finish that was on there when we got the boat. The stain comes in a thick paste that should be thinned to the consistency of house paint. Then brush it on in small, manageable sections and rub it in, across the grain with a saturated rag. Wipe any excess off before it dries. This stain is a heavy one, and is can be used to blend old wood with new and cover many imperfections.
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