Boat Buzz

It happened...
I was very pre occupied most of the day at the Algonac show and apparently I did not do a good job of tying up. This will be my first repair job since the restoration in 2010.
Looking for recommendation from the pro's on how to go about a fix for this. Dents are about 1-1.5mm deep
Thanks.

Is it into the wood itself? If not, then tape off the area, build up numerous coats of varnish, and fine sand to feather it. Remove the tape and blend by rubbing out.
Tom

Ditto what Tom says on the scratches. But I believe you said there were dents and scratches into the surface of the wood also. If true, and the dent isn't a deep puncture but rather a more broad dent, you can try this: get a wet-ish towel which you place on the surface of the damaged area. Then take an iron (like in ironing clothes) with it turned on hot, and see if you can actually steam the dent out. I have done this with some success, but only do one dent first to see how it goes. I keep the towel flat and tight, and use just the tip of the flat and hot iron on just the one dent. You just "dab" the iron's tip for a few seconds, lift the towel quickly to see if you made progress, then repeat the process several times. If it works, then try another, if not, or you don't want to risk lifting the varnish, stop, tape off, sand, and build up the surface as Tom said.Of course if the scratches went into the stain, you'll have to add stain first after the sanding in each place where bare wood shows. Or you could put Famowood into each dent, tape off, lightly sand everything flush, stain, and add the varnish coats, and then feather the edges of the varnish patch. If you think you might like to try the iron technique, the old saying "practice makes perfect" fits here, so find a scrap piece of thicker mahogany (the scratches and dents are on the toe rail right?) and try to reproduce the damage on the scrap wood. Then try the towel and iron technique. If it works for you, good, if not, OK too and you won't have risked the surface of your varnished boat. Good luck and let us know what you do and how it turned out.

The iron will work on raw wood, but lift the varnish on your deck.

If you have dents. Thick super glue works really well.

boat_art wrote:Is it into the wood itself? If not, then tape off the area, build up numerous coats of varnish, and fine sand to feather it. Remove the tape and blend by rubbing out.
Tom

If it is into the wood it's very little.

Try filling with varnish, if it is too deep then like Jim said...the gap filling super glue.
Phil is right about the iron, that technique can work on bare wood but not on varnish.
Tom

boat_art wrote:Is it into the wood itself? If not, then tape off the area, build up numerous coats of varnish, and fine sand to feather it. Remove the tape and blend by rubbing out.
Tom

Once I build coat, what grit should I be using. Is this a wet or dry sand?
Thanks.

Those docks at Algonac are certainly better suited for taller, larger boats. I got a little dock rash myself this weekend..

Jim Godlewski wrote:

boat_art wrote:Is it into the wood itself? If not, then tape off the area, build up numerous coats of varnish, and fine sand to feather it. Remove the tape and blend by rubbing out.
Tom

Once I build coat, what grit should I be using. Is this a wet or dry sand?
Thanks.

Use 320 dry sanding. Dont go any finer than 320 or your varnish will not have enough tooth to hold well.
Tom

I would go with Howard, hot iron on damp towel will pull out most gouges without delaminating varnish coats...I didn't see chocks

quitchabitchin wrote:Those docks at Algonac are certainly better suited for taller, larger boats. I got a little dock rash myself this weekend..

I hope it wasn't worse than mine...
I miss the Saint Clair venue.

So, do we think the wet towel/iron trick would work on this? Any need to stain or just try to build it back up with varnish (or super glue if it's still too deep)?

My 7 year old dropped the anchor at just the wrong time. Hopefully a quick repair and I'll be back to remembering the weekend like this:

I don't know since I do not yet have any iron experience but the second photo sure makes up for the first one.

Don't worry about that little ding. Fair it with a little sanding, touch up with stain and varnish it. Twenty years from now when your 7 year old is 27 that ding will bring back great memories for you and your son. Happy Boating!

I agree w/ Joanroy. Just fixitup. A boat w/ some dings and scratches garners more respect. It shows that it has been used and loved.

Those two little marks are from my daughter's brand new bottom teeth circa 1992. I took the picture this year! The cockpit will be refinished when I get to that stage with Elude, but I will work around these for sure. She is currently doing a PhD at Columbia in NYC, which proves that varnish and mahogany are brain food.

robertpaul wrote:Those two little marks are from my daughter's brand new bottom teeth circa 1992. I took the picture this year! The cockpit will be refinished when I get to that stage with Elude, but I will work around these for sure. She is currently doing a PhD at Columbia in NYC, which proves that varnish and mahogany are brain food.

This has to be, by far, the posting of the year!
Tom