"Joe" wrote in message
ups.com...
You should rip all the outside wood off so you do not have to so much
work maintaining it. Replace your hand holds and trim with Steel!

Stainless hand holds???... in my climate?.... no thanks! I've been aboard a
friend's steel boat here in the winter.... the damn thing was insulated and
it was still cold.


That said, I have solid mahogany spreaders, I sand and varnish them
about every other year. A fun summer day project. If I had teak deck Id
let em go gray. I used Cetol last time I did my spreaders and the
celtol seems to hold up longer than varnish, yet varnish looks way
better. 8-10 coats of varnish is the way to go, wet sanding with 600
grit Norton sandpaper between every coat. My whole interior is
phillipino & hondouran mahogany with 8 hand sanded coats of Epifanes
Varnish, It took that many coats because I selected mahogany mith
intense mudulley rays that are very porious and sucked in the varnish.

I've used a special Tung oil from Lee Valley.... it has additives that
produce a hard glossy surface. I haven't tried it yet on my boat but I might
this year. The stuff is expensive... $13 for 500ml. It showed excellent
results on the roll-top table I refurbished a couple of years ago... but I
don't know if it will last under outdoor conditions.

CM