Bristol Finish

[Pblais]

We got very lucky with weather. Spring was very early and pollen season was over early too. The gap between hot weather and pollen was long enough but not with much to spare. I've gone around the perimeter and now we get to the center part of the boat. I have two butterfly hatches to overhaul and do and a mile of grab rail plus 60 feet of cabin top trim and twin companionway way doors. I redid the Edson spoke wheel last year in Cetol and I won't redo it as it takes a LONG time to prep. I'm really pleased with the results. I do think going forward the maintenance will be easier. I may hedge and have a canvas cover made for the taft rail.

[minaret]

Originally Posted by Pblais

We got very lucky with weather. Spring was very early and pollen season was over early too. The gap between hot weather and pollen was long enough but not with much to spare. I've gone around the perimeter and now we get to the center part of the boat. I have two butterfly hatches to overhaul and do and a mile of grab rail plus 60 feet of cabin top trim and twin companionway way doors. I redid the Edson spoke wheel last year in Cetol and I won't redo it as it takes a LONG time to prep. I'm really pleased with the results. I do think going forward the maintenance will be easier. I may hedge and have a canvas cover made for the taft rail.

Good call. I have canvas covers for every single hatch, rail, and piece of trim on the boat, as well as two different full covers. They pay for themselves in the long run, especially when doing varnish work in the shade under the summer cover. Grab rail is almost as annoying as taff rail spindles. Sometimes when it comes to pollen and flying bugs I will ask a client to take the boat out a mile or so to apply the final coat, it pretty much guarantees a dust and bug free finish. I got that idea from reading about how ancient Japanese makers of fine china had special boats designed just for painting and lacquering in the middle of a large lake, for the same reasons. It works! Just dont run the diesel much unless you want fisheyes...

[Pblais]

OK Part 2 complete!

The grab rails were a chore! The trtim around the cabin top was easy (the easiest so far) 2 - 4 loop rails and 2 - 5 loop rails were not so easy! We in the end pulled them after I tried to sand them in place. Found a little rot on the bottoms in places and a fair number of bolts were pulled through where the PO had found a leak and just kept cranking. Had some cracks as well as a full break patched with a couple screws from lashing items to the deck and getting a bit carried away. So those were properly patched and bunged.

We settled it all out mostly and ended up drilling out the bungs all the way through, then plugging them full and redrilling them so there would be a solid shoulder for the new bolts. Today they seem quite solid and have just a few stains from the bottom rot. We used a joiner to shave off and level them all but there are limits on how deep you can go. Time ran out and with 3 coats Awlspar and 5 Alwbrite we are heading south to the Albemarle in the morning for two weeks. We need to do some light sanding then finish so it can wait.

We come back home and them for the final trip to the Yacht Club where we committee boat for the Oyster Roast Race and then take on the "roast". It's about 5 hours of serious eating and beer drinking.

After that we take on Chapter 3! We pull the butterfly hatches and disassemble them totally so we can sand and reglaze them and finish the last of the wood work!

It's been a hideously time consuming job. There really are a million ways to wimp out too. The sanding really is hard but not even the hardest part. The grab rails really were the test. Having to do serious repairs and still do the 13 coats! It does look really nice (sorry new pictures to follow after the trip).

I don't have a taft rail cover but I'm leaning to getting one. I can't cover the full toe rail though. Grab rails and hatches have them already. They are easy and cheap. The results from Awlbrite are most impressive and anyone that sees it says so right away.

[cburger]

I am so disappointed with the "Bristol Finish" brand of coatings for my boats bright work. I spent untold hours prepping and applying, following the companies intructions to the letter only to have the product start to fail after one year in NY climates. 7 coats were applied supposidly the "Tropical" standard that was supposed to last 5 years without attantion, what a joke.

When the company was and contacted, of course it is my fault and I must have done something wrong in the application of the product. I even tried following the instructions to repair and recoat the failed areas and a year later the repairs are ugly yellow blotches.

Has anyone had any success removing this "Crap" from their boat ???

[Nicholson58]

I applied Bristol FIninsh on my main hatch and hatch boards 6 years ago. It was a winter project done in the basement and garage. The location is primarily shaded and the product has held up well and looks like a deep pool of oil.

The remainder of the wood is Epiphanes except the rails and seats are oiled.

I peeled the remaining black rubber out of the teak seats; filled with 3M 4200 black and sanded - then oiled.

All of the old finishes weere pretty crispy when we got the boat.

[minaret]

Originally Posted by Nicholson58

I applied Bristol FIninsh on my main hatch and hatch boards 6 years ago. It was a winter project done in the basement and garage. The location is primarily shaded and the product has held up well and looks like a deep pool of oil.

The remainder of the wood is Epiphanes except the rails and seats are oiled.

I peeled the remaining black rubber out of the teak seats; filled with 3M 4200 black and sanded - then oiled.

All of the old finishes weere pretty crispy when we got the boat.

Next time try using TE-KA after stripping but before sanding and coating. It will get all those black stains you have on your hatch out before coating, leaving nothing but nice even blonde wood without all the extremely heavy sanding it takes to get there otherwise. It also removes a lot of the oil from the teak, which helps the sealer coat to penetrate further and give a better longer lasting bond. The stuff is like magic, but you have to be careful or it will remove your flesh, it's pretty much straight phosphoric acid...



TE-KA Teak Wood Cleaner