CRAFTSMANSHIP WOOD FINISHES
BEMBRIDGE ONE-DESIGN PETRINA
On target for a three-year maintenance cycle Myles Smith is a recently retired anaesthetist who
bought himself a pretty little wooden mistress to keep himself out of trouble during his retirement. Having spent his working life in a busy hospital he was in no mood to sit around all day twiddling his thumbs with a plastic boat. But his wife has her own ideas about how to spend their years of leisure ahead, so, attracted by the idea that exterior woodstain would keep brightwork maintenance to a minimum, he converted Petrina to exterior woodstain, in this case Sikkens Cetol Marine. Described as ‘similar to a Bembridge One-Design’,
Petrina, 22ft 9in (6.9m), was built by Woodnut & Sons in 1938, of pitch pine on rock elm. The use of iroko to build the cuddy suggests that this may have been added later. Had it been constructed when the boat was built in the late 30s, true mahogany would probably have been used.
Below left: Petrina on the water after her conversion to Cetol Marine (natural tint) in spring 2009. Below right: After two years the rails have worn along their tops. An extra brush along the tops might have spared Myles a fitting-out job.
So in April 2009, mindful of the need to remove all traces of old varnish, Myles stripped the cabin sides, toerails and grabrails back to bare wood. He then washed the dust away and de-greased the wood surface with cellulose spirit. Three coats of Sikkens Marine ‘Natural’ were then applied. It went on very easily, he told me, with the first coat drying to a dull matt. After the second coat he de-nibbed the surface with a very fine grade abrasive. With the final coat applied there was a smooth sheen and a vibrant wood figure showed through. Although Petrina’s cabin sides are predominantly iroko, the forward cabin corners are of teak and it’s notable how much lighter the finish is. It’s something to be mindful of and this underpins the need for a controlled test before a big project is entered into.
“An extra brush across the tops of rails prevents early erosion”
Petrina was returned to her mooring on the Deben in early May 2009 and she remained there until mid- November. In 2010 the covers came off and everything looked pretty much the same as it did when she first went out. However, slight thinning along the tops of the toerails and grabrails was noticeable. Grey wood was beginning to threaten. “I must say, it still looks pretty good and I’m very pleased with it,” Myles told us at the time. Our inspection of the finish 18 months later (May 2011) revealed little change other than a very slight reduction in sheen although there was an inexplicable worn patch on the port cabin plank. Other than touching-in these abrasions and erosions, including tops of toerails and grabrails (this had worsened, see below), Myles reckons he’s on target for a three- year maintenance cycle, but then Petrina does have the benefit of a winter cover. It’s just as well too. A family wedding was distracting attention from the boat in 2011, and it’s at times like this when exterior stain really pays dividends – things won’t suddenly deteriorate.
The touching in of the grab and toe-rails involves abrading grey wood back to bright wood and touching in with a fine brush. A second coat can then be applied like a bandage right the way along the rail tops, feathering down the sides.
Across all our test boats we’ve noticed that wood- stains tend to run down from the tops of rails like this while it’s still wet, leaving the upper facing surface – the one that is caned most by UV – frail and vulnerable. An additional brush application applied along the top of the rails will help prevent early erosion.
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CLASSIC BOAT MARCH 2012
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