The local rowing club has four Seine Boats that need annual maintenance. They live on the beach all year round without covers and soon look unloved. Over the Christmas break I got cracking with sprucing two of them up. They were all originally varnished and this had to be removed by sanding, scraping and heat gun. The club's chosen finish is Deks Olje. It's a two stage process, D1 that soaks in and D2 that forms the varnish like surface. A couple of years ago we tried leaving the boats with just the D1 on them which initially leaves a satin finish. By the following year all the wood was silver and faded. They are less concerned with getting a gleaming gloss finish than keeping the boats serviceable but using both parts does give better protection. The oil was applied with a foam roller for the first coats. Subsequent coats were just wiped on with a cloth. This gives a decent layer of protection for the wood and is easy to sand off and re-coat next year.
The insides had some of the mouldings repaired. Then they got a clean and a lick of paint and non-slip. The keels on both boats have a few chunks missing from being dragged around and they could do with being repaired first next year.
Now these are done, it's on with the next two...
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| River Teign Rowing Club boats |
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