Valentine Surprise

[Jett]

Don't normally connect Valentine's Day with DaySailers, but I had to pass this along...got a surprise this morning when my Valentine (wife of 35+ years and skipper most of the time) presented me with newly stripped and varnished wood pieces from our Spindrift DS1. She secretly sneaked out to where we have the boat stored for the winter and took off every piece of wood she could find (tiller, coamings, braces, etc.) and over 10 days managed to strip and varnish each piece, in our basement no less, without my catching on.

Being a former woodshop teacher, so she's always varnishing/painting/fixing something around our house, so I suspected nothing, even though the house smelled of varnish more than usual, wafting up from the basement. What a (lovely) surprise.

Guess she'll get the skipper whenever she wants this coming season....

[algonquin]

What a great surprise !!!

Your Valentine is definitely a keeper. As you have indicated she will not only fill the position as “Skipper” but also “First Mate” Thanks for sharing your post. Brad

[ctenidae]

I showed this to my wife (who just got done stripping and sanding our floorboards (and cursing the whole time)).

Her response: "That's really sweet. No way in hell."

[Jett]

Yeah, in my case, it's probably a very good thing the Spindrift DS1 has no floorboards!

[MrPlywood]

You should marry that woman.

[Peterw11]

I've got to get started on the same project pretty soon, if I want to be ready for spring.

What kind of finish did she end up with (gloss, semi-gloss, natural, etc.) and what products and procedures did she use?

[Jett]

According to my wonderful Valentine, the wood was mostly weathered, with very little of the previous finish left to be removed. The wood that was exposed (cockpit area and tiller, etc.) was grey, so she scrubbed it with Oxalic acid to remove the grey and restore some natural color to the wood. Then, using a few tablespoons of borax in a gallon of water to neutralize the acid, she cleaned up the wood and, over a few days, applied 4 coats of glossy varnish, lightly sanding between coats.

The wood under the deck was in pretty good shape, so it was able to be lightly sanded and varnished directly.

It certainly improved the appearance of the boat. Now I'm really motivated to clean up the scuff marks on the hull, etc., to get the rest of the old boat up to par with the newly varnished wood.