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I like the aroma of
freshly cured varnish–but that’s about it. All the other aspects
and activities associated with the stuff, like doing the stoop-labor shuffle
with a dusty handful of 220-grit production sandpaper, precisely applying
rolls of neon-colored marinized masking tape and then pulling it off again,
and endlessly anointing acres of pampered cellulose, usually of the teaky
variety, with a badger-hair brush dripping with sticky amber goo, I pretty
much hate. And why shouldn’t I? Over the past 40 years or so, I’ve
done enough of it, whether on commercial vessels or my own personal boats,
to qualify for a graduate degree in maritime masochism. In fact, I’ve
completely eschewed exterior brightwork on the Scrumpy Vixen, my boat.
Even her nameboards are low- to no-maintenance stabilized polyethylene!
But let’s say you’re
not as down on varnish as I am. Maybe you even like the traditional ambiance
that a swoopy, gleaming varnished teak caprail gives to the exterior of
a boat or the salty romance a bunch of teak louvered doors imparts to
the interior. How do you deal with this if the prospect of spending the
next few weekends wearing a dust mask and squinting through solvent fumes
isn’t appetizing? Is there a simple, fast way to get the job done?
And still come up with a nice finish?
I’d say the answer
to both these questions is a big, fat "yes," although I’m
betting there are all sorts of fume-flummoxed varnish freaks out there
who’ll vehemently disagree. And what’s more, I’ve got a
little backup for my cheery attitude, a master varnisher with decades
of experience behind him: Jimmy Becker of Rybovich in West Palm Beach.
Becker uses pretty much the same classic products I’ve sworn by for
years–Interlux’s glossy Schooner Varnish among them–on
the elegant sportfishing boats Rybo builds, boats that are justly famed
for their brightwork. Becker also approaches his industrial-strength varnishing
projects with techniques that are certainly more refined than my own but
have a lot in common with them as well.
Next page >
Varnish continued > Page 1, 2,
3, 4
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