Damp wood under varnish
 

I have stripped the varnish from my spars to replace with Sikkens
Marine. In one or two areas where the varnish was damaged the surface
of the wood appears a bit damp and soft; not sufficiently so to believe
that it is rot. When I sand it it tends to "tear".

Will this dry out if left, or do I need to do something before applying
Sikkens?

Any advice grafefully received.

Damp wood under varnish
 

I do preservation work on old homes (i.e. window sash, etc.) and see
this fairly often. The wood will dry, but will still be spongy. There
are products out there called wood consolidators or plasticizers that
can fill the damaged cellulose structure in the wood with a polymer
which once dry will be 'hard' again. This surface will be able to hold
adhesives or finishes, where the soft wood would not.

This is viable assuming there aren't many, or significant voids in the
wood where this initial stage of rot has occurred. More advanced rot
is indicated by cracking and checking across the grain as opposed to
just along the wood grain. If this happens, the best course would be
to remove the rotten wood and replace it with a 'dutchman' which is a
slightly more entailed process.

See this link for an example of a dutchman:

http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/know...0938-4,00.html

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Keith


Paul Fearnley wrote:
I have stripped the varnish from my spars to replace with Sikkens
Marine. In one or two areas where the varnish was damaged the surface
of the wood appears a bit damp and soft; not sufficiently so to believe
that it is rot. When I sand it it tends to "tear".

Will this dry out if left, or do I need to do something before applying
Sikkens?

Any advice grafefully received.

Damp wood under varnish
 

If the wood is sound but just wet, let it dry. Heat will help.

There are thinned epoxy products which were developed and marketed
principally for firming up architectural trim so that it would hold paint.
The WEST System people have done extensive tests on the strength and other
physical properties of thinned epoxies and concluded that they are
substantially weaker than un-thinned epoxy.

If it's still punky, i would assume zero strength for the epoxified rot and
ask myself whether the spar would be as strong as designed if the punky
material were gone. If so, have fun. If not, the sharpen your chisels
and learn to fit a dutchman. For larger pieces of spars, the taper should
be quite long (12:1).


"Paul Fearnley" wrote in message
ups.com...
I have stripped the varnish from my spars to replace with Sikkens
Marine. In one or two areas where the varnish was damaged the surface
of the wood appears a bit damp and soft; not sufficiently so to believe
that it is rot. When I sand it it tends to "tear".

Will this dry out if left, or do I need to do something before applying
Sikkens?

Any advice grafefully received.