Refinishing Rookie

About 6 Years ago my dad gave me his Mckenzie that he built 23 years ago. For some reason he decided to go the Clackacraft route. Well it's long over due for a refinishing. I'm new at this so I was hoping for some advice on the best way to strip it down and what to put back on it. I'm also not sure what to do about a bottom for it. It's had just about everything. It does leak quite a bit which I understand is common for older boats. I've gotten a little bit of a start and taken most of the bottom down but I'm having trouble removing the old varnish on the sides. I would like to return the outside to how it looks now but would prefer to get the inside down to the natural wood so it's a lighter color when finished. I imagine the inside will take a lot of sanding to get down to the original wood. I think the darker color on the outside is a stain but not sure. Any help would be great. I've seen a lot of beautiful boats on this site and would like mine to be one of them when I'm done.
Trevor

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Permalink Reply by mitchell on April 8, 2009 at 8:56pm
Trevor,

In another thread ( can't remember which one) on this site it was mentioned that there is a stripper goo that you can use instead of sanding. We/you can track that thread or I'm sure others will be here to lend a hand and let us know what it is.

It looks like you have been already inside the boat with your sander and the applied dark staining inside remains? I don't know if you can sand it out nor if the goo will strip it out.

Nice boat!
Permalink Reply by Trevor Eccles on April 8, 2009 at 9:04pm
I haven't sanded the inside, it's just dusty foot prints from taking out the seats etc. I've spent most my time on the bottom. I'll search the threads for the goo.
Thanks!
Permalink Reply by mitchell on April 8, 2009 at 9:06pm
forgot to mention...careful with the sander, it very possible to sand away then realize you may have gone to far or too deep or stayed in one place to long. Tricky tool

Looks like photo one that you had to chisel pound off the coat-it off the bottom. That's sure a pleasure isn't it? Took me two days lasts summer
Permalink Reply by Brian on April 8, 2009 at 9:53pm
Hi Trevor-

I'm almost done stripping all the varnish off of my old boat. just one gunnel left to do. I figure I have about 50 hours into it, and that doesn't include doing the bottom as it had to be replaced. I've been using a heat gun and a SHARP scraper. I've had some tear out with the fir plywood but have been able to tame it with sanding. I think that after 23 years it would be a good idea to pull off the chine cap and probe around for soft spots. I knew I had to repair when I was scraping old varnish and my scraper went through the chine log. It's better to find out in the driveway than on the river. You boat looks really nice, I like the color variation between wood species. Why is the chine lighter at the bow? is that where you started striping?
Permalink Reply by Randy Dersham on April 9, 2009 at 11:05am
Yes Brian, pulling off the chine cap and replacing it with proper bedding will likely eliminate your leaking. Check for rot while you have it off but I wanted to assure you that replacing the chine batten or chine cap is something that you must do to protect all the work you are doing now.

Best of luck and share photos often.
Permalink Reply by Trevor Eccles on April 9, 2009 at 5:19pm
Yeah, that's were I've started striping
Permalink Reply by Rick Newman on April 11, 2009 at 7:22am
Trevor, what have you found? Good wood or bad wood? Let us know and send pictures.

Rick Newman
Permalink Reply by Jesse Ronnow on April 11, 2009 at 7:32am
Trevor,

Beautiful boat. I am at the tail end of the same project. I have 25 year old 16' Tatman that need some TLC. The thread that Mitchell may have been speaking about was on I started. AJ DeRosa mentioned, on that thread, that he uses a product on his restores called Aqua Strip. It's a water based stripping agent. I found one at a local paint store here in Idaho called Citri Strip. This particular stripper is a citrus based stripper and can be used indoors. the Citri Strip is a gel and really should be applied in temperatures above 60 degrees.

I started stripping with an assortment of different sanders. Man did that suck. I did the transom and side panels at the transom. When compared to the stripping, the sanding took for ever. I have several pictures posted on my page if you want to take a look. Good luck. It's a fulfilling and sometimes frustrating endeavor, but totally worth it.

Tight Lines,

Jesse
Permalink Reply by mitchell on April 11, 2009 at 7:41am
thanks for coming through with the product stripper information Jesse
Permalink Reply by Rick Newman on April 11, 2009 at 8:40am
I found a carbide blade scrapper at Lowe's that is a wonderful paint removal tool when combined with a heat gun. Harbor Freight has a very inexpensive one that keeps on working for me. I don't know if it will help anyone, but the combination works well for me.

Rick Newman
Permalink Reply by Trevor Eccles on April 13, 2009 at 8:42am
Well here's the weekly update. Spent a lot of time yesterday on the boat, not much on Saturday as I tried to get another fishing trip before the rivers got muddy, turns out I was too late. Thanks for all the replies so far. I've got the bottom stripped down, wood is in good condition. I'm still working on finishing up one side. The varnish is being stubborn but I've got a stripper that's working pretty well. There's just a few random spots where the varnish just doesn't want to budge. I've also had a couple spots where a nice piece of wood has come up while scraping the varnish off. Any recommendations on how to repair those? Sanding? I haven't taken the chine off yet. What's the best way to clean up the wood to get the remains of the varnish remover and the sanding dust off? Thanks again for all the help!!!!
Permalink Reply by Jesse Ronnow on April 14, 2009 at 7:11pm
Trevor,

I understand steel wool works well, although I have put that step off until I am just about ready to finish. That way all the other accumulated sawdust and debris. Good luck.

Jesse

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