Bulkhead refinish

[borvaprops]

Can anyone tell me what finished was used in the 2006 Bavaria 33 cruiser? I need to refinish my bulkhead to get rid of faded areas. 

[Lazy Pelican]

I have to refinish my companionway steps and adjacent bulkheads so I’m interested in the answer. Also the methodology - does the existing varnish need to be totally removed?

[Yngmar]

We did our companionway steps by scraping off what was left of the original varnish. While it's fine to just sand down intact varnish and add more layers on top, you need to get at the wood to fix any blackening or fading (with bleach and oxalic acid).

After varnish removal, a cabinet scraper will bring out the wood patterns very beautifully (optional step though).

Then just pick any varnish you like and build up new layers. The final coat should match your boats interior, which meant satin on our J&J Bavaria. We used some chemical product that looks okay but was exuding toxic smells for months, so wouldn't recommend. Next time I'll just go with time honoured Le Tonkinois again

[symphony2]

On my 2001 37 I used a water based satin finish here ronseal.com/products/ultra-tough-hardglaze-varnish/ Very good match with the factory finish.

Be aware that doing a whole panel is not a trivial job, particularly if it is faded. You really have to strip it all off, clean the surface as Yngmar says with a cabinet scraper and even bleach and/or stain to get an even base colour all over before applying the new finish. best to experiment with small areas in less obvious places first.

[marioxp]

I intend to paint my companionway steps with two-component polyurethane parquet varnish. It is durable to walking and polyurethane is resistant to UV.

[Moodymike]

Not heard the term cabinet scraper before?

[sy_Anniina]

see e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaTXNbquLOA

Don't know if there are other terms for this tool as I am not native English speaker - in Finnish the tool would be "sikli"

BR,

Tommi
s/y Anniina

[PEA-JAY]

In English a Card Scraper, I been wanting to find out. A word of advice though, do practice on a piece of scrap wood first as it requires some skill to get a perfect result.

[symphony2]

Cabinet scrapers are good for fine finishes but do require a bit of skill to use properly without snagging the thin veneer. I have found Skarsten and Bahco scrapers with handles also good. Solid wood trim is relatively easy to prepare to a good level for varnishing, but large panels require a lot of care, particularly getting an overall colour match if the surface has faded in parts or been damp. Get it wrong and you face your "error" every time you enter the boat. Therefore good to practise on a panel that is not in your face such as a berth front. Unfortunately though these are the ones that rarely need any work.