What is advised to take care of the finish on mahogany rudder and daggerboard for an old 1960’s Sunfish? When treating the rudder do you remove the metal hardware to be able to finish the wood underneath the metal? What would be the best coating to use That would be compatible with whatever was originally used to protect the wood?
What is the proper treatment for the mahogany rudder and daggerboard?
- Thread starter M25max
- Start date
A marine grade varnish is best, such as Pettit Captains or TotalBoat Gleam. But since the blades are not left out in the sun you can look for a "Spar varnish" at your home improvement store. Experience tells us that the more expensive a varnish is, the longer it will last. SO the cheap varnish found locally will be good for about one season.
Remove the hardware if you can without damaging it.
Remove the hardware if you can without damaging it.
Cascadian505
Active Member
If the varnish is intact you can sand it to scuff it and then reapply coats. Yours look to be in great shape so alight sanding and some coats of varnish should do the trick.
My boards were really messed up so I sanded them down to bare wood, coated with epoxy, and then varnished. I did three coats but would have done more but it’s sailing season.
Also, make or buy some protective covers for them. That will keep them in better shape longer.
My boards were really messed up so I sanded them down to bare wood, coated with epoxy, and then varnished. I did three coats but would have done more but it’s sailing season.
Also, make or buy some protective covers for them. That will keep them in better shape longer.
Do you remove all the rudder hardware before varnishing the wood or do you varnish with the hardware installed.
Cascadian505
Active Member
Remove the hardware. As an earlier poster said, if you risk breaking it by removing it, leave it. But your refininish job will look so much nicer if you remove. And your bronze looks great so you don’t want varnish on that.
As for that little brass (?) tab on the daggerboard, remove it but don’t sweat sanding the depression behind it. The wood just needs to be sealed but otherwise it is covered by that tab so you won’t see the wood.
I recommend epoxy, wet sand smooth after the epoxy hardens. If you expect to have your foils in the sun for extended periods, spray a clear hard coat of Krylon or similar to finish. Epoxy is not UV stable without varnish on top. I just refinished a wooden rudder on my used racing sunfish, I did the same on my first Laser back in 1975 with wood foils. Sand the foils to near bare wood; however, you don’t need to remove every trace of varnish, just most of it and a smooth surface. Brush the epoxy on smoothly with a natural bristle brush, you can find them at any hardware or big box store. Varnish will only allow a thin film, is not as hard, and doesn’t fill the grain as well. Epoxy will last many years, and if you coated it thick enough the first time, wet sanding and spraying on another coat of clear will make is smooth.
Jamestown Distributors is a great source of epoxy, you can find them online. Some epoxies create a sticky blush during curing, you can recoat as soon as the first coat kicks off and gets semi rigid to avoid the blush, or wait until it sets, then wash with water to remove the blush. Read the manufacturer's recoating directions. But the advantage of epoxy is that you can coat it as thick as needed, and it will always set no matter how thick. You can sand out any mistakes and redo easily.
For more durable leading and trailing edges, you can add light fiberglass tape, but it also requires more work and care. The tape will float to the surface if you put the epoxy on too thick, you need to do a thin coat to adhere the glass tape to the foils, then as soon as the tack coat starts setting you apply a coat over the top to fill the weave.
Jamestown Distributors is a great source of epoxy, you can find them online. Some epoxies create a sticky blush during curing, you can recoat as soon as the first coat kicks off and gets semi rigid to avoid the blush, or wait until it sets, then wash with water to remove the blush. Read the manufacturer's recoating directions. But the advantage of epoxy is that you can coat it as thick as needed, and it will always set no matter how thick. You can sand out any mistakes and redo easily.
For more durable leading and trailing edges, you can add light fiberglass tape, but it also requires more work and care. The tape will float to the surface if you put the epoxy on too thick, you need to do a thin coat to adhere the glass tape to the foils, then as soon as the tack coat starts setting you apply a coat over the top to fill the weave.