I'm not dancing now...

[Ira]

Well, that's what the instructions may say, but when it comes to marine spar, I didn't go less than 24 hours.

Did you sand between coats?

That's why I gave it at least 24 hours--so it was nice and dry before sanding.

[Mary K]

Ummm, Yeah, right Not unless the movie you saw was different that the one I grew up with. 'Cause the Dorothy I know didn't have the spare tire I have.

hump---Thats cause you are a grown woman and she was a starved kid with a padded bra and a girdle.

OH, is that all I need?? Will it make me sing like her?....lalalalalalaburp
Mk

[sandman]

MaryK,

This post made me . You are coming along so great with your construction too. It looks like you got some great advice from the crew here. I hope you can salvage the finish. I can totally understand your weather since West Tennessee is just as unpredictable. Best of luck with the roadbump in your build...I am building the Benroy right now too so you have to keep posting pics of your build so I can draw inspiration from your quest to finish the TD.

[Et Cetera]

If it makes you feel better, we put our teardrop outside overnight with a piece of plastic over it to protect it from rain earlier this month. My husband had just re-constructed the hatch and I hadn't primed it yet.
Needless to say, it got warm, rainy and humid and the brand-new hatch sprouted mold across the entire outside surface by the next morning. I sprayed it lightly with bleach and let it dry. We had to put it back outside covered up while we're sheetrocking, painting and finishing our garage, so we'll see how bad it gets while it sits out. Worst case = Steve will chalk up the first hatch re-build as a practice hatch and start on hatch #2. He said he didn't care too much for the ribs of the first one, so maybe it's not such a bad reason to build another.

[Mary K]

Well, that's what the instructions may say, but when it comes to marine spar, I didn't go less than 24 hours.

Did you sand between coats?

That's why I gave it at least 24 hours--so it was nice and dry before sanding.

Okay, good advice. And, yes I did sand. But I do have a question on sanding. I did the 100 grit sanding by hand, a good rub down, after the first coat and then 220 grit after that. I just took the shine off the top by hand, I didnt do any hard sanding. Just light one. Is this correct?

Thanks,
Mk

[Classic Finn]

Mary K if you got most of it off or should I say all of it rather.. that should be ok ... maybe a finer grit sandpaper would get it back to the smooth surface as you had it before...then coat it with a light surface again...but make sure its dry...


Classic Finn

[Mary K]

MaryK,

This post made me . You are coming along so great with your construction too. It looks like you got some great advice from the crew here.

Awwwah, don't cry. It's just a bump in the Teardrop path. And yes there crew here is the best!! I'm proud I can be part of the family here.

If it makes you feel better, we put our teardrop outside overnight with a piece of plastic over it to protect it from rain earlier this month. My husband had just re-constructed the hatch and I hadn't primed it yet.
Needless to say, it got warm, rainy and humid and the brand-new hatch sprouted mold across the entire outside surface by the next morning.

Ouch, no that doesn't make me feel better. It's a heart breaker. Hope things work out better for you on #2 if ya have to build it.

I might have to move my side walls to my 10x10 shop to varnish, it will be a tight squeeze but at least I can add a heater and control the humidity. Something to ponder

Mk

[Classic Finn]

If it makes you feel better, we put our teardrop outside overnight with a piece of plastic over it to protect it from rain earlier this month. My husband had just re-constructed the hatch and I hadn't primed it yet.
Needless to say, it got warm, rainy and humid and the brand-new hatch sprouted mold across the entire outside surface by the next morning. I sprayed it lightly with bleach and let it dry. We had to put it back outside covered up while we're sheetrocking, painting and finishing our garage, so we'll see how bad it gets while it sits out. Worst case = Steve will chalk up the first hatch re-build as a practice hatch and start on hatch #2. He said he didn't care too much for the ribs of the first one, so maybe it's not such a bad reason to build another.

Yupper I know what it feels like to make a "Practice Run Hatch"... Im putting my 2nd together at present and Im praying that it will turn out..
So far it looks good..

Classic Finn

[angib]

4 HOURS. That's what the instruction said. "Apply next coat after a minimum of 4 hours." I should have know better though.

As far as I can tell, all coating instructions are written by someone in California who doesn't believe it's possible for the ambient temperature to fall below 70 degrees.

4 hours is quite long enough between coats on a warm day in California. It's just that everywhere else in the world, it isn't......

Andrew
(Ooh, I do like that emoticon)

[Ira]

Mary, I used an orbital with the really fine paper, and you're right--you don't have to take much off at all. Just enough for the next coat to grab. After sanding, I hand wiped with alcohol.

But far be it from me to disgaree with ANYTHING that Andrew says (the guys is damn genius), but depending on how heavy you're putinng the spar on, I refuse to believe it's gonna dry all the way through in 4 hours. Especially in FLORIDA and especially with the weather we've been having.

Also, wood type makes a big difference too. You went on thick ply, while I went on a thin birch skin. But the birch will take the spar, whereas God knows how cheap ply reacts to it.

So you wanna skin now? Come on--it's FUN!

[Mary K]

As far as I can tell, all coating instructions are written by someone in California who doesn't believe it's possible for the ambient temperature to fall below 70 degrees.

4 hours is quite long enough between coats on a warm day in California. It's just that everywhere else in the world, it isn't......

Andrew
(Ooh, I do like that emoticon)

Yes, that a good emoticon!!

Well, I wouldn't blame the instruction writers to much. But I do see your point. I guess if I would have research a little more I might not have messed it up to begin with. But I just like to jump right in and hope for the best.

So, from now on its one coat per day and no coats when is humid. .

Mk

[Mary K]

Again Ira, good advice. Thanks.

Feels good to have experience and help others. I know I liked it when all my crazy pictures helped Sandman with his Red Trailer.

So you wanna skin now? Come on--it's FUN!

Okay, so, I know you are being sarcastic and thats always a good thing. Don't ever stop. But what exactly does "skin" mean. Are you talking about the top wood skin, or side wood skin. It's probably a reference to an old post I haven't read. So whatever it is YES, if it's fun, I'm game. Tell me how to do it, oh master of wit and skinning ...errr...

Mk

[Podunkfla]

Hi MaryK... I have gotten used to dealing with our foul humidity down here... and it dang sure contributes to blush problems. So does too many coats too fast. Basically, what happens is the surface dries before all the gasses have had a chance to escape from below. The darn lacquers we use in cabinet making are famous for it.

So, here's some things I do that usually solve the problem. The first thing I try is simply wet it down with thinner/mineral spirits and rub it with a green scotch-brite pad or 0000 steel wool... If it isn't too hard dry this will often open the surface and let it dry underneath. If that doesn't work on a test spot, I wipe it off and go to the next stronger solvent: lacquer thinner and do the same thing. Lacquer thinner will usually soften spar varnish, again if it isn't too cured. Like someone said above, they do make products that are designed to soften and re-amalgamate varnish. One of the more commonly available ones in the big-box stores is Formby's Refinisher... Marketed to refinish old furniture. You use it the same way, more or less; only you can use some old rags or paper towels to wipe off the softened finish. It is not as strong as a stripper, so it sometimes takes more than one application. All the above tactics will naturally dull the surface from the steel wool/scotch-brite... No worries. The next coat of varnish will fill the fine scratches and make it shine again. Last of all, you can use a methylene chloride type stripper and just take it all off and start over. If you do this you should also wash all the stripper off with mineral spirits and/or denatured alcohol to get rid of any wax left from the stripper. I know this seems like a lot of hassle. But the idea is to use the least harsh method that will get the job done.

And, yes you can also sand it off. But semi-cured spar varnish is terrible about gumming up your sandpaper. You can go through a bunch of it in a hurry. If I have to go with mechanically removing a finish, I prefer and have better results using a card scraper or cabinet scraper... which opens up another whole set of skills & tools to learn to use. These simple tools have been around for hundreds of years and they are still very usefull. Us old cabinetmaker dudes often use them more than we use sandpaper.

Hope this helps you Mary... and maybe some other folks sometime too.

Just more information overload from 'ol Brick

[Mary K]

Brick, WOW, You know your stuff!! Thanks!! This should help me and other dinkelheads that get in a hurry when varnishing.

Okay thinner/mineral spirits or lacquer thinner or Formby's Refinisher. Okay got it.

I can not begin to thank everyone enough who has given help or support with "my problem"

Thank you, Merci, Dank u. Gracias, Obrigado,

Mary K

[bledsoe3]

MK, I skinned my Benroy. This is a before picture.

I wanted a "Woody" and didn't want any screws or foot ball plugs to show. After all exterior screws were in I glued a sheet of Luan to the side walls. I clamped all around the exterior and around the door opening. Here's an after shot.