Pretty ugly staining on the floor board and corner. Hard to believe it was only surface damage to the varnish and the teak was fine underneath.
When Gregg arrived home from Newfoundland with Catalyst II, one of the first things I noticed was damage to the teak and holly floor in the salon. The one ceiling hatch had leaked for years and still did when we bought her, the rubber gasket had cracked and no longer provided a tight sealed. We always made sure a bucket was placed to catch the rain to prevent further damage until we fixed the problem. And there were several other leaks where the source wasn’t so obvious that tormented us. Finding a leak on a boat is like being a forensic detective. Water can come from anywhere, drip along a wire and come out far away from where it entered. We had paper towel stuck everywhere to see if we could track the entry.
We had water in the head cupboards, the galley cupboards, the bar and scariest of all, behind the electrical panel. Sometimes there would be water, other times not, depending on the wind direction and driving force of the rain. We spent days and weeks trying to isolate the leaks, shaking our heads all the way. Our bilge always had water in it, not enough for the pump to come on but enough to get out the sponge and bucket. We’d climb on board and hold our breath as we lifted the floor boards and sometimes we rejoiced but mostly we just groaned. It was a frustrating time trying to pin point the problems but one by one we persevered and rectified them all. Now all that remained was the damage done to the teak that had continually been wet.
I know I can’t make our boat look brand new, she has too many nautical miles on her, but that horrible dark water spot and corner delamination on the floor was ugly. In the corner, the hole for the screw to hold the floor down had been eaten around the metal so it would need patching then re-drilling.
Gregg and I tossed around the various repair options. Most likely, we figured that whole edge would need to be removed and a new section installed. Buying a long skinny piece of the teak plywood wasn’t even an option, we would have had to spend lots of dollars for a larger piece then slice a section off and then it wouldn’t match with new wood beside the old. The only job that would have appeased my anal retentiveness would have been a brand new floor and with the price of teak, I wasn’t willing to sell a kidney for it. Covering the cabin sole with hooked rugs felt like sweeping dirt under a mat, and even if no one knew the stain was there it would have been like Poe’s Tell-Tale Heart for me.
So I gave the board to Steve, a master wood worker that makes a lot of the products I sell in my rug hooking business, like frames and rug hooks and all else required. I made suggestions of things Gregg and I had discussed and then left it in his capable hands. He had the repair done in a couple of hours and I picked it up and he told me he didn’t have to remove the large stain area because he used a card scraper to gently peel off the cracked and stained varnish to expose pristine teak underneath. Lucky for us, teak is very hard and almost impenetrable. I couldn’t tell a stain had been there. WOW I thought. He glued the end bit, repaired the small piece of holly that had delaminated and broken off and put on a bit of stain to give it the aged patina to match the remaining boards. Amazingly simple and I couldn’t believe our good fortune that it was an easy and inexpensive fix.
So now the fun began, refinishing all the floor boards with Epiphane varnish. I had a choice, strip them down to the bare wood and bleach out any dark marks, making them fresh and almost new in appearance or I could lightly sand them down and recoat, leaving the small scratches and character marks of the past 28 years. I’m no fool, after renovating two houses I know nothing lasts forever. I could spend hours restoring those boards and within a year it would be looking used once again. And the most important rule I’ve learned, viewing anything from five feet away you barely see finite details and unless it's been a really good party, no one should really be that close to the floor. At some point everything that takes daily wear and tear has to be redone so why go to the trouble of making the floor look newish when it will be scratched probably within the first day of walking on it. At the time we had four pups and their little toenails will mark any surface unless it’s titanium so I didn’t feel like spending all the extra hours to accomplish a flawless finish that wouldn’t last.
So I hand sanded, the veneer on the plywood is very thin so I was careful not to break through when I concentrated in a particularly deep scratch area, and then I wiped it down with Epiphane thinner then started applying the varnish. That first coat is always the most dramatic, absorbs in and pulls out that golden patina of the grain and I was pleased how it looked. With a light sanding in between coats I put on six high gloss layers. High gloss will show any imperfections, sort of magnifying them in the shine but it comes with the best hardness for a floor finish. I would have applied more coats on but I only had a week for them to cure before installing them back in the boat. A month would have been better but Catalyst was now ready for launching and there would be time next season to add more coats.
So we installed them and what a difference it made. My eyes no longer kept obsessing about the flawed areas as they were now drinking in the mirror shine and beautiful patina of the wood. Of course I plan to hook more rugs to cover the rest of the floor, complementary mats to match my compass rose one there now. The pups don’t like jumping from the aft berth to the slippery floor so the rugs are for them as much as interior decoration.
We put down old bed sheets for the first few times we were on board to help the finish cure a bit harder but sure enough, scratches were appearing just as predicted. Nothing too major, just normal wear and tear only noticed by my critical eye as all others were blinded by the shine. I’m happy with the job and now able to enjoy sailing with my captain and the furry kids.
The repair was done all along the right side in the below right photo, the blue tartan blanket shows above it. Sorry I don't have a photo of the very corner, you'll have to take my word it looks not perfect but absolutely great.
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