DS1 Restoration

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DS1 Restoration

Postby mtnman711 » Sat Mar 16, 2013 9:13 pm

Hello everyone,

I purchased a 1966 O'Day DaySailer last August and absolutely fell in love with her. After spending about every weekend taking her out for the rest of the summer, I had to tuck her away for winter. Having decided this is definitely a boat I'd like to keep for a while, I've decided to invest some time and money into shining her up. Though not particularly weathered to begin with, there are plenty of TLC projects I'd like to complete before dropping her back in the water this spring.

I have been reading through the forum and greatly appreciate the wealth of knowledge represented. I have the stress cracks along the edge of my cuddy and through my research on this forum have determined how to repair/reinforce this. I have also pulled out, disassembled and stripped the decking in preparation for a fresh seal. I've purchased a gallon of Bristol amber urethane high gloss on the recommendation of a local marine supply store. My first question though was what you all think is the best way of going about this re-seal. At this point I'm leaning towards re-assembling the naked decking BEFORE applying the new coats. In this way, I can ensure the fasteners don't breach the seal after it's been applied. Any comments on this approach?

There are a handful of other projects I wanted to ask about, but need to get some pictures up to guide that discussion. I hope to get to that soon, but the decking is the #1 project at the moment. Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer. Looking forward to working with you!

- Devin
Vancouver, WA
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Re: DS1 Restoration

Postby GreenLake » Sun Mar 17, 2013 1:38 am

Welcome to the forum! Looks like you have some work planned and have a question or two - you've definitely the right site.

I guess I'm a bit confused in trying to understand what you mean by "decking". The DS1 has four types of exposed wood parts. The coamings (there's a whole thread on finishing them in the DS1 forum), the thwarts (those are the pieces connecting seats to CB trunk) the little wooden "shelf" in the back (in some years) and the floor boards.

Some here think that you might be better off if you seal coamings and thwarts with epoxy (such as SystemThree Clear Coat) on all sides (including inside edges of screw holes) before applying varnish or finish. Especially if you get lots of moisture cycling like in the PNW. (Not as strongly recommended if the boat will sit uncovered, because the UV protection from the Bristol finish may not protect the underlying epoxy well enough to reach the same extended lifetime of the total finish, but results with covered boats are good).

If you don't, then your chances that your finish will crack (and peel) are higher. Now Bristol might be more forgiving than other PU finishes (e.g. if it were a bit more flexible) something that I wouldn't know one way or another. If it is, then you might get decent life out of your finish. Read the discussion in the thread on coamings -- you can definitely use the Bristol finish on top of epoxy saturated wood, if you decide to go there.

Even if you don't want to epoxy seal the whole coamings I would epoxy seal the inside of the screw holes with epoxy. They are the preferred location for moisture to be absorbed. I would also seal the screw holes going into the pieces of "backing" wood (called "carlins") under the side deck. That will slow any decay (dry rot) that may have started from water getting in there. The way to do that is to push some epoxy in there, wax your screw and tighten it while the epoxy is still wet. )The wax will let you remove the screw after the epoxy has hardened.)

To answer your specific question: definitely coat the coamings off the boat (see other thread on how to do this).

Now for any other wood that may be on your boat:

The shelf, if you have one in your transom, works the same way (and don't take it apart).

For the floor boards (they are the lattice like inserts between the seats and in the cuddy, if you have them), the issue is that in order to seal them you must take them apart so that each piece can be epoxy sealed on all six sides. You can then glue the pieces together, if you want, which would make the fasteners only decorative, instead of structural (you could just glue some nails in place for looks). If you still have original floor boards, they would probably be in a bit of iffy condition and could use a thorough restoration - or it could be someone tossed them long ago. (If you are without, you can skip the rest)

One problem where floor boards are different is that they can be submerged in water for extended periods. Even well sealed wood might have some small places, e.g. a scratch, that can "wick" moisture, and a lot of it, when immersed. Problem with epoxy coating is that this moisture can then never escape (it would eventually escape through Bristol Finish, but slowly). Even if you decide not to epoxy coat for that reason, you could still beef up the connection between slats and cross pieces by glueing them together. Epoxy glue is strong, but may fail over time if the wood gets really wet too often. However, the bond isn't critical to the health of the boat and you could reapply it after failure (and after drying the wood) - you'll probably find that the pieces don't fit tightly enough for real waterproof wood glue, so epoxy glue would represent a compromise. As before, whatever fasteners you have (e.g. bronze nails) would become mainly decorative, which means you could simply glue them in place with some epoxy if they holes they are in have loosened over time. (What I should have done in the first place, but I didn't have enough of the right info...).

Whether epoxy coated or not, you'd apply the finish after reassembling the floor boards (the epoxy glue would provided a seal for all the areas that you can't reach with the Bristol, while any exposed epoxy in the cracks would still get some UV protection).
~ green ~ lake ~ ~
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Re: DS1 Restoration

Postby mtnman711 » Tue Mar 19, 2013 12:20 am

Wow, thanks for the detailed response, Green Lake! I have seen your name on countless threads and certainly appreciate you weighing in on mine.

By decking I mean the floor boards. I just need to do a finish sanding and acetone wash before I'm ready for sealing. I have epoxy, but the Bristol is a 2-part varnish and came very highly recommended by my local marine supply store. It says in the directions that it can be used over an epoxy if desired, but I'm inclined to stick to the Bristol alone and just do the recommended 8 coats. But if I need to seal all sides while separated, do you think it would be a good idea to do a few coats before re-assembly, and then coat over the fasteners? I had seen a post (yours, I think) about gluing the floorboards back together, but wouldn't that make things difficult if I ever wanted to pull them apart again? I had kinda planned on brass nails for function and aesthetics, but wasn't positive about that.

The coamings, thwarts and "shelf" are next, but the coamings will require a fair amount of repair. Just by square footage I anticipate these parts will take a lot less time than the floorboards though, even still. Which is good, because our weather is getting nicer and I'm really starting to jones for a sail :-)

I'll keep you posted and hopefully get those pics up soon so you can see what I'm working with. Thanks again!

- Devin
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Re: DS1 Restoration

Postby K.C. Walker » Tue Mar 19, 2013 3:46 pm

welcome Devin!

So… I have not done this so I have no data on longevity. I overhauled the bilge and bottom on my boat some years back and planned to repair my floorboards. It turns out that the way I did my boat I didn't need them. However, I have them all sanded up and ready for varnishing, neatly stacked in my garage.

Any kind of finish, be it clear or paint is hard to keep adhered to wood that has high moisture content in it. So, obviously the marine environment is particularly hard. Traditionally, bright work is restored or at least given a coat every year to keep it nice. There is almost always somewhere that has blistered and needs to be scraped back to bare wood before you put on the next coat. If you want to look really good you need to sand, buildup the places that blistered and peeled, and then put another overcoat over the whole thing.

Varnish adhering to fasteners is particularly a weak link and the most likely point of failure. Moisture gets in behind the fastener and into the end grain of the wood and it can travel quite a distance. The next most likely point where blistering starts is from the end grain that might not be fully covered with varnish. Varnish is more susceptible to blistering and peeling than paint because of its mini greenhouse effect. The sun shines on your nice varnish work and gets the wood underneath, that's got some moisture in it, all nice and hot and steamy which is not at all good for adhesion of the varnish.

So, after rambling on, I'll now tell you my plan that I never did. I was thinking that I would epoxy encapsulated all of my floorboards while they were separate. I would drill holes and countersink for nice bronze screws, making sure that the epoxy sealed these, as well. Varnish the floorboards unassembled and then assemble using a dab of epoxy on the screws that are well waxed. I planned to use ipe (rot resistant wood) for the joists, or whatever they're called on a boat. I wasn't going to bother with any finish on those.

My other thought was to use some kind of oil finish like cetol or a deck stain and not bother with varnish.
KC Walker, DS 1 #7002
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Re: DS1 Restoration

Postby kokko » Tue Mar 19, 2013 6:37 pm

I disassembled my floorboards and sealed each piece with two coats of west woodpro. The key is to mark each piece so you can put it together again. Then I put a third coat on after screwing it together.

The PO stored the boards in a barn where birds crapped on them for years. The only way to clean them was to take them apart. I also discovered a few cracks and stripped screws hitch I repaired. Look great now!
DS1 Truelove
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Re: DS1 Restoration

Postby GreenLake » Tue Mar 19, 2013 7:24 pm

Devin,

the takeaway is that all Bristol may work, but if you seal the end-grain (esp. around the fasteners) and seal the area underneath where the "joists" rest on and the top surface of the latter, you might just have extended your maintenance interval by having removed several of the most problematic spots (without actually etombing the wood. About entombing the wood, not everybody is sure it is a good idea in situations where the wood could wick moisture from any scratch, because that moisture can then never escape (unlike with just varnish where some moisture exchange is still possible - over time).

For coamings and thwarts I did use epoxy first, and things have held up w/o retouching for four seasons (covered when not in use). I had one spot where the tiller had rubbed through varnish and epoxy and I was able to retouch that - because the spot was not in the bilge, in contact with standing water, there was no dangerous level of moisture wicking....

So, pick your poison and go for it, then let us know how your restoration turned out and holds up (pictures every season :) )

Good luck!
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