firefly varnish

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francis.s
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Joined: Mon May 08, 2006 5:47 pm

Post by francis.s »

Hi there.
I have recently re-decked firefly 1993 who is wooden and (now) beautifully sanded down. There is some fairly large patches of white where holes have been filled and, although as smooth as the rest of the boat, don't look nice compared to the wooden rest of her!

I had intended to varnish her as i thought that it would look nice before i noticed the big filled patches. I was wondering whether if i bought a dark varnish with colour in, would it cover these patches and make her look lovely?

It seems a shame to paint her!

A reply would be greatly appreciated!

Francis

firefly 1993 and topper gbr 43011
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neil
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Post by neil »

Hi Francis

Welcome to the forum

If you haven't all ready found it have a look at Ed's guide to varnishing as a starting point. http://www.cvrda.org/boats/hintstips/pd ... hing_1.pdf I seem to remember that it covers staining etc.


Neil
IC: K26
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Rupert
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Post by Rupert »

Francis - good to hear from another Firefly sailor.
What you need to think is that a 50 year old boat isn't ever going to look new - all the blemishes are marks of her history, and while they can be made to look as insignificant as possible, don't need to be hidden! Wear them with pride! And once the boat is on the water, they will not be noticed by anyone anyway, as all will be admiring the beauty of the boat.
Rupert
chris
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Post by chris »

You can colour badly filled patches with an acrylic paint before you varnish if it's fairly small areas. The sort of matt acrylic that model shops sell in tiny pots is good. dilute it a little more with water so that it is very thin. use a few colours that match and stipple it on with a stiff brush rather than paint onn a single colour. Let it dry well and very lightly sand it with at least 400 grit so that it doesn't stand up as a bump.

To get an idea of what the final colour of the surrounding wood will wet it water. Then try to match that colour.

But I'm also with Rupert - an old boat looks odd if it looks brand new, if you see what I mean.
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Ed
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Post by Ed »

I think what we are trying to say is.....

don't use a stained varnish!

I don't think I have ever seen a boat that has used a stained varnish and thought gosh that looks nice.

What to do....

I agree with others, don't worry about it...its there live with it.

If you can't live with it, you might try painting it, but again it never seems to work for me.

If you are down to the wood and you are worried about the look, I would seriously consider patching the marks with veneer. If the damage is in the hull, it is really very easy and a very rewarding job to do. If it is in the deck, then it is maybe slightly harder....but still really not hard and although it does not necessarily hide the damage it does look much nicer than filler.

If you want more instructions on how to do this....a quick search of the archives should find somethign because I know I have written on it.

If pushed I will write again and put it up on site.

cheers

eib
Ed Bremner
CVRDA


Jollyboat J3
Firefly F2942
IC GBR314 ex S51 - 1970 Slurp
MR 638 - Please come and take it away
Phelps Scull
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