Now that we have had the Catalina for a year, we are on to the wood refinishing projects. I’ve been working for a few weeks on the teak but while we were at the boat last week getting the mast raised, we took a look at the tiller and quickly realized that it needed some work. So we took it off and brought it home to work on.
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| Tiller Before Sanding and Finishing |
I did a bit of reading about the best way to strip the old varnish including some toxic chemicals but in the end just got out my random orbital sander with some 80 grit sandpaper and went to it. To my surprise, the remaining finish as well as the embedded dirt on the tiller came off incredibly easily and in no time at all I had it stripped to bare wood and revealing the beautiful laminated layers. I did a bit more sanding with some 180 grit paper to smooth it out before finishing.
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| Tiller after sanding |
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| Final Finish |
I did some additional reading on what to finish it with and determined that the Interlux Schooner finish we had leftover from Brian’s kayak building project would do the trick. The instructions on the can recommended thinning it with some Interlux 333 brushing liquid however I determined that it wasn’t needed on such a small piece in the nice cool, dry weather. I strung a wire through the holes that attach it to the rudder and hung it from a nail in the basement rafters. I opened the window for some ventilation and over the course of a few days put on 4 coats. I did some quick sanding with some 330 grit paper in between coats and wow, what a difference. It looks great, don’t you think. And each coat only takes about 10 minutes to apply. This is totally a worthwhile project for the small boat owner.
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