Refinishing exterior brightwork

One of my fall jobs is to refinish the swim platform and rub rails. The PO supposedly used Cetol that is now peeling badly. Does this stuff come up with a scraper or need sanding? Im used to 2 part teak cleaner and teak oil but I want to try to match the rest of the boat.

Greetings,
Mr. HW. Cetol scrapes quite nicely with a SHARP scraper. Sand afterwards and you're good to go. I'm in the throes of a repaint/refinish and from experience, keep that scraper really sharp and it will ease your work substantially. I sharpened my scraper 8X+ doing 100' of cap rail.

Try a heat gun and scraper first, sand if needed then leave the swim platform alone; unless you add some granules, it will have better non-skid properties in its natural state.

Take the stern platform home and refinish it.

Let it dry out real good. Use a heat gun and scraper to remove all the old Cetol. Apply a white marine primer mixed w kerosene .. 50-50 to 25-75 K to P. Then apply the best white marine paint you can find. A softer paint (frequently called long oil) should be more flexable and hold up better on the platform. The sealer/primer is very important as it will help keep water from getting under the film of paint and lifting it off.

Teak cleaner should be avoided (bad for the wood) and "teak oil" does little good and lasts not at all.

If your platform is teak that particular item may be better left alone.

Replace w aluminum? See older threads about Pine Tar finishing. Possibly an avenue.

Good question as so many have the "swim step", it lives in a harsh environment and is difficult to work on in the water.

Another idea ... cut out a plywood cover (probably 2 or 3 pieces and replace every year. Make a template. Paint it white or clear or not at all. That will keep the sun away from the teak (or whatever) underneath. Use the pine tar under. If you make your base swim step out of aluminum the cover can be replaced whenever you feel like it.

One thing's for sure. If you finish it traditionally you'll be doing it again soon.

Unlike RT belly up to the bar and buy a tungsten carbide scraper. You'll not need to sharpen them. You too RT ... you'll consider them a miracle. Blades slightly curved or straight are available. I prefer curved as the corners are less likely to dig in on the edges. If you don't know about TC scrapers this may be the best advice I've ever given.

Greetings,
Mr. m. I somewhat agree on the TC scraper. I've got two and have had them for years but very difficult to sharpen (need a diamond wheel) when dulled. I still prefer the soft steel scrapers and with a VERY sharp scraper, a heat gun is totally unnecessary IMO.
I also agree with leaving the teak on the swim step untreated. No oil, no varnish, no sealer at all. A regular wash with salt water will keep it looking just fine.

RT Firefly said:

Greetings,
Mr. HW. Cetol scrapes quite nicely with a SHARP scraper. Sand afterwards and you're good to go. I'm in the throes of a repaint/refinish and from experience, keep that scraper really sharp and it will ease your work substantially. I sharpened my scraper 8X+ doing 100' of cap rail.

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Only 8X?

Do you guys also burnish the edge of your scrapers after you sharpen them?

It makes a big difference on how well and smoothly they scrape away a finish.

RT and Bill,
We must be talking about different scrapers.
The tungsten carbide scrapers you don't sharpen. Too hard. Ya just get a new blade about 1/4" X 1 3/4" long. Insert and secure w a small/short screw.

I don't think I've ever replaced a blade.

Yes I was not referring to carbide scrapers. But carbide scrapers can be sharpened and I believe burnished as well.

Thanks for the responses. Naked swim platform it is. I have a palm sander and heat gun. The TC scraper is new to me so I will pick one up.

I would avoid the heat gun.

Gulfstar 36 said:

I would avoid the heat gun.

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Because?

It can destroy good wood in the wrong hands.

caltexflanc said:

Because?

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Pretty tough to destroy the wood..even surface charcoaling it is only a light sanding away from bringing it back to match everything which most people do anyway.

I find it really depends on the coating....a heat gun will bubble some right up and it will almost flake off without scraping...other times it really doesn't have the right effect and scraping or sanding (or stripper) is needed as the primary removal method.

Gulfstar 36 said:

It can destroy good wood in the wrong hands.

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But a scraper can't ????

Heat gun and scraper, it's varnish removing 101! Plenty of great videos on YouTube on how to do it! Keep heat gun moving so as not to burn the teak, you'll be fine as long as you keep focused!

I use a heat gun in one hand with the other working, pushing, a blade type scraper right behind it. The Cetol or varnish softens and peels right off.

Yup, use both. A heat gun helps avoid misuse of the scraper by making the scrapes with less force. Also helps in areas where the grain is going in a tough direction or is soft.

Wait...I thought cetol was a miracle product that did not require all the work of varnish?

What is Cetol?

Meaning what's it made of?

I would just use an orbital sander as it will most likely need leveling anyway and then leave it bare.
The paint it white or put ply wood on it has got my vote for the worst advice on the forum.

manyboats said:

What is Cetol?

Meaning what's it made of?

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Material Safety Data Sheets | Sikkens® US

Perfect timing for this thread - thanks!

The PO of our boat used Cetol and masking tape, but still managed many drips onto the gelcoat...what's the best way to get it off gelcoat?

MurrayM said:

Perfect timing for this thread - thanks!

The PO of our boat used Cetol and masking tape, but still managed many drips onto the gelcoat...what's the best way to get it off gelcoat?

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Just chip off the excess amount with your fingernail or plastic credit then then remaining stain with a little acetone...........

rochepoint said:

Just chip off the excess amount with your fingernail or plastic credit then then remaining stain with a little acetone...........

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Thanks. Not a chance using fingernails, but will try an old, worn out, yacht dollar depleted credit card.

Thanks Bill re the ingredients of Cetol,
So it looks like basic ingredients aren't unusual but it's interesting that they vary a lot from within their products. Nearly everything is heavy in linseed oil, alkyd resins, stoddard solvent (a Standard Oil product I believe) and other typical ingredients. There is frequently naphtha, silicone and silica. Naphtha is a crude oil product I'm quite sure so what's so special about this product? A lot of the usual things found in an oil based product.

If anything's unusual it may be the inclusion of lots of solvent. Perhaps they read Peter Culler re kerosene as a penetrant and went heavy on the solvents. Would be a lot cheaper to buy anyman's finish and dump in some solvent or kerosene.

I know the people in Alaska are crazy for Cetol. They put it on everything. Houses, boats, fences, doors ect. Like the anti-fouling paint I use there's stacks of cans of it as they know lots will be sold. Seems to hold up well but may be just the same as other products IMO. Or it may be special ... .???

The big thing for Cetol for me is it is not overly environmentally sensitive, hot humid day no problem, cool cloudy day no problem, consistent results.

We use two coats of the standard Cetol and then use their gloss product two coats. Goes on fast.

On the advice of others here, I took the swim platform home, scraped and sanded the old finish to remove it. Washed the bare wood with TSP to clean it. Then two coats of Smith's Clear Penetrating Epoxy. 1/1 mixing, very thin, penetrates very well. Seals the teak and prevents water from lifting the next layers. Then three coats of Cetol in Natural teak. It has held up extremely well for three years so far. Before and after pics of the bowsprit here, can't find ones of the swim platform just now, but results the same.

Sounds like the the CPES Epoxy would be excellent but some time back I heard a downside to it. We just did our cap rails and decided to use plain oil based varnish. Plan on using Epiphane's for the last top coats as our McKloskie's is a high oil rather soft finish and Epiphane's is considerably harder. Rebeca in her Brightwork book advises against using cleaners and bleaches ... thinks they are harsh or otherwise undesirable. She's very old school though.

We put on the first coat 25% varnish! 2nd coat 50% varnish and 3rd coat 75% varnish. Plan on using brushing thinner here on depending on weather. We will be under covered moorage here on and think the old school varnish will last for years if we sand and put on another coat every year.

Looks great now thanks to Chris's determined work. She brought it back from completely black.

But I am curious what the downside to penetrating Epoxy.

Gulfstar 36 said:

It can destroy good wood in the wrong hands.

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That's not going to happen.

manyboats said:

But I am curious what the downside to penetrating Epoxy.

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It can be a pain when it come times to strip it off and if you have to sand an area down to bare wood to patch in a damaged spot it can be hard to get a color match that blends well.

But you can build a nice base with it and obviously in adheres to the wood very well while giving the varnish coats a nice base to build on.