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Varnish Maintenance and Care

To keep brightwork healthy, approach it as you (hopefully) do your own health. Set a regular maintenance schedule (like an annual checkup), keep a first-aid kit on hand to address any symptoms of ill health, and practice preventative care (ignoring ailing varnish only makes the cure more grueling for the doctor).

Keeping varnished areas covered and rinsing them frequently with fresh water will mean less doctoring. Regular maintenance coats (before the coating begins to fail) will extend the life of a finish. Re-apply a teak oil or stain every three months or so; usually this just entails cleaning and re-coating the wood, although light sanding may be needed; follow maker suggestions. The timeframe for refreshing varnish alternatives will vary. Like varnishes, alternatives with clear overcoat should be refreshed (two coats) annually; those without should be refreshed every six months or less in the tropics. If the gloss begins to look dull, it's time for a refresher. A good scrubbing will remove dirt and grease, then sand the surface with 220- to 320-grit or bronze wool, and lay on two new finish coats.

Between refresher rounds with varnish, address scratches, lifting at joints, or blistered areas as quickly as possible to keep moisture from ruining the whole show. First, clean the spot with a recommended solvent, lightly sand with 100-grit (moving up to 320-grit), feathering at the edges. After another pass with solvent and a tack rag, apply varnish and repeat until the thickness matches surrounding areas. This should be easier with the alternatives as their coating is softer and requires less sanding. To patch flaws in Cetol, clean the area, scrubbing against the wood grain, let it dry, and then apply Cetol.

Having a varnish first-aid kit handy will make these "band-aids" easy and fast. A kit should include: a medium artist's brush, handle cut to 1 inch; a cleaned spice jar; sheets of 100-, 220-, and 320-grit sandpaper; a tack rag; and a clean cloth rag. Screw the paint brush to the jar's top with a self-tapping screw; fill the jar with varnish, and seal well. Rubberband the sandpaper to the jar. Put the rags in a Ziploc, and stow it all in an easily accessible place.

Whether it's a varnish or a softer alternative, if it's suffering from old age, widespread peeling, cracking, streaking, or simply a loss of luster, a total overhaul is the only cure. Takedown methods for varnish include sanding (for removing thinner coatings), dry scraping or heating and scraping (best for thicker finishes), and chemical stripping. Heat guns and strippers should be used with caution around painted and fiberglass surfaces; rinse the stripper thoroughly from the wood as any residue will cause adhesion problems. For varnish alternatives, sand with 80-grit and move up to 220, clean, and re-coat. Industry tests have shown that adhering to a tighter scale of increasing grit gets the job done quicker; an 80-120-150-200 step down is more productive than going directly from 100 to 220.

Our favorite resources on varnish maintenance include Don Casey's "Sailboat Refinishing," Rebecca Wittman's "Brightwork," and Sherri Board's "Boat Cosmetics Made Simple."

For more instruction on varnish care and maintenance, purchase Rebecca Wittman's The Brightwork Companion: Tried-and-True Methods and Strongly Held Opinions in Thirteen and One-Half Chapters today!

Things to Know Before You Buy a Bristle Brush

Brush choice depends on what the brushs job will be (transferring paint, smoothing paint, etc.), the users preferences, and the project budget. The best brush isn't necessarily the best brush for the project. You wouldnt use a $40 brush that requires meticulous cleaning to paint the bilge or apply bottom paint, just as you wouldnt use a throw-away chip brush to lay a final coat of varnish on the toerail-at least we wouldnt.

As Don Casey put it in his marine-maintenance bible, This Old Boat: Varnish will forgive some technique flaws, but it wont forgive the wrong brush. Cheap brushes typically don't hold paint well, apply it unevenly, and shed bristles-unappealing traits for a topside paint or varnish brush. Expensive brushes are crafted for optimum performance, but they are an investment and must be tended to properly to ensure a long, useful life.

Synthetic vs. Natural
Most natural bristles are made from hog bristle; theyre often called China bristle because China is the largest supplier of them. A good-quality China bristle is adequate for most finishing jobs. The next step up is ox hair, which is often a mix of hog and ox, and the best finishing brushes are badger hair. These are ideal for tipping-out polyurethane paints and final coats of varnish. With any of these types, there is a range of qualities available, so be sure to examine a brush for quality before you purchase it.

Synthetic bristles, typically made of nylon or polyester, are less expensive than natural-bristle brushes, but they lack flagged (split) bristle ends so they don't hold as much paint or lay it on as evenly. While you can achieve good varnish results with a foam brush, we would never recommend a synthetic-bristle brush for finishing jobs aboard a boat.

Construction & Shape
Brush construction is as important as bristle choice when it comes to matching a brush with a job. Handcrafted brushes with hand-chiseled tips and thick, flagged bristles have more paint capacity than flat-edged brushes, enabling longer strokes and more uniform paint transfer.

Handle shape and construction material is a matter of personal preference. Our testers preferred the beefier, beaver-tail-style handles because they fit in our hands well, but they are the hardest to fit in a brush spinner for cleaning. We also prefer slightly finished wood handles, as they are easier to keep clean.

The brush ferrule should be of a rust-resistant metal, and the bristles should be adhered with epoxy or vulcanized rubber. There should be no noticeable gaps in the bristles, and if theres a plug inside the brush, it should be a thin one.

The job at hand determines what shape the brush head needs to be. Rectangular heads are good for coating flat surfaces, which are few and far between on a boat. Brushes with oval cross-sections retain more paint and are the best bet for top-coating varnish or tipping-out LPU. Round brushes are good for trim and cutting in. If youre going to invest in one or two quality brushes, oval is the way to go. (Never use a varnish brush for painting or vice versa.)

Matching the Brush with the Job For varnishing: You need a brush that is dense, has a chisel tip, and absolutely will not shed bristles. This could be a good badger-hair brush or even a foam brush. Both Casey and Rebecca Wittman (professional wood finisher and author of The Brightwork Companion) extol the good performance, easy cleanup, and environmental friendlier-ness (no solvents required for cleanup) of the Jen Poly-foam brushes.

For painting: Foam brushes wont fly with polyurethane paints, plus you want the brush to hold plenty of paint, so a bristle brush is better. Disposable, throwaway China chip brushes are adequate for small jobs or those where perfection isn't a priority. If youre rolling-and-tipping a hull and will realistically follow a brush cleaning regimen, then an oval-shaped badger- or China-bristle brush with a chiseled, fan-shaped tip is best.

For additional advice and information, purchase Don Casey's This Old Boat, 2nd Edition today!

There are as many different techniques for brush care and cleaning as there are different brushes. Here are some tips that weve found to be effective and fairly easy to carry out.

Pre-project brush prep: Remove stray bristles and dust by wrapping masking tape around the fingers of one hand several times (10 to 12) with the tapes sticky side out, making the wrap wider than the brush. Move brush bristles back and forth over the tape, as if youre painting it, until no bristles come out. Clean the brush with thinner to remove tape adhesive and any remaining dust.

Between coats: Never leave a natural brush soaking in thinner as it will dry out the bristles natural oils. Instead, soak it in kerosene, but be sure to suspend it so the tip is off the can bottom. Rinse it twice in mineral spirits or thinner before re-using it.

Post-project cleanup: Rinse the brush three or four times in clean thinner. (You can re-use the thinner if you strain the solids out.) Using a brush spinner and a bucket of thinner can expedite this process. Spread the bristles to be sure all varnish/paint is removed, then comb the bristles clean and into shape using a bristle comb. Once all signs of paint or varnish have been cleaned out, dip the bristles in clean motor oil and let them soak for about 10 minutes; wrap bristles in stiff paper and store the brush suspended.

Brushkeeper: Some prefer to store brushes suspended in diesel or kerosene. There are several products on the market designed for wet brush storage, including the metal Epifanes Brushkeeper (above), but making one is a fairly simple DIY project. You need a container that is big enough for your brushes and is impervious to solvents. If you plan to store the brushes aboard, be sure it can be sealed. The next step is devising a rack system. Coat hangers work for shoreside keepers, but we prefer thin, wooden dowels affixed to the container sides. Be sure the dowels are skinny enough to go through the holes in the brush handles. Fill the container with diesel or kerosene until the ferrule is halfway covered, and youre done. Before using the brush again, rinse and spin it a few times with mineral spirits.

For additional advice and information, purchase Don Casey's This Old Boat, 2nd Edition today!

Swinging the Compass

You can employ a compass adjuster to swing your compass or you can do it yourself quite easily. There are several ways to do it, but the quickest and easiest is to have the helmsman steer due north (000C) on the steering compass while another person uses a hand bearing compass to sight along the centerline of the boat while standing at the stern, well clear of any magnetic interference.

Make sure there is no deviation at your chosen spot, by taking a bearing of a charted transit and checking it on the chart. Note the course steered and the reading from the hand bearing compass, then turn to 030C and repeat the procedure.

Continue recording bearings every 30 until you have completed a full 360. Plot the results on graph paper to produce a curve giving the amount and direction of deviation for each course steered.

If deviation exceeds about 6 on any course, employ a compass adjuster to correct the compass.

The Complete Sailing Manual is the most comprehensive and informative book on sailing available, and will immediately become your teacher, advisor, and counselor for all your sailing questions and needs. Purchase Steve Sleights The Complete Sailing Manual today!

Todays Waypoint is from former Practical Sailor editor Dan Spurrs book Spurrs Guide to Upgrading Your Cruising Sailboat.

As with the boats interior, the best deck layout is arrived at only after a season or two of sailing. You learn where its most convenient to put your feet down, the most convenient pathway to your stern (often cluttered with jerricans, solar panels, outboard motor bracket, flag etc.) to tend to the dinghy painter, and the places where people prefer to sit. Eventually you begin to settle on how best to add equipment or make changes to existing features.

You can often identify a true cruising boat by the amount of stuff (Id like to say junk) on deck. Sometimes it seems there just isn't room belowdeck for everything-barbecue grill, second anchor and rode, dinghy oars, and much more. Many of us feel that this stuff is essential, and that our lives would be more difficult or less pleasant without it. But let me chasten thee: gear on deck weathers quickly; obstructs access around the boat; is in danger of being swept away in a storm, often to the endangerment of crew and other fixtures, such as stanchions and lifelines; and is just plain ugly. Theres nothing worse than a rusty bicycle lashed on the stern pulpit. To my mind, if you can't fit it below deck in a locker, don't bring it.

For additional advice and information on ways to upgrade cruising sailboat, purchase Spurr's Guide to Upgrading Your Cruising Sailboat today!

As we wrap up our dinghy wheel test, scheduled for the October 2011 issue of Practical Sailor, we want to remind readers that there are a range of do-it-yourself options available, particularly if all you need are wheels to get you from the dinghy rack to the waterline. At most yacht clubs and marina, dinghies must be moved from storage areas and tracks to launching ramps; and, although a strong man can carry a light dinghy on his shoulders, for lesser mortals a wheel is a much better idea. There are a number of commercially available, clamp on dinghy wheels, all of them needlessly complicated for use on wood ramps or paved dinghy parks. Here we show you the simplest of all dinghy wheels for a conventional fiberglass or wood dinghy: a skeg mounted wheel.If youve never pushed a wheeled dink, youll be amazed at how easily they can be moved; even a child can do it. The drawing shows just how simple the whole thing is. It consists of nothing more than two straps bolted through the skeg and a wheel held between the straps by another bolt serving as an axle. Replacements for everything from lawnmowers to hand trucks, wheels can be bought cheaply in a variety of sizes online, or at your local hardware store. Replacement urethane wheels from Razor scooters (available online for about $10) are also an option, although the sealed bearings will probably need regular replacement if you use them in saltwater. Since pushing a dink is much easier than pulling, a really small wheel is to be avoided because its apt to hang up with a thud every time it encounters a small unevenness on the ground. A wheel of about 3-inches in diameter or more will serve well. The straps should be of stainless steel or bronze strap about 1/8-inch thick by 1 -inches wide. The length of the straps should be such that there is about 4 of bolting length in addition to the half diameter of the wheel, plus 1-inch. This allows you to drill the axle hole 5/8-inhc from the end of the straps and still have some clearance between the wheel and the skeg. As an example, for a 3-inch wheel, each strap should be 6 -inches long. If your skeg is a really short one you should cut the 4-inch bolting length to about 3 inches. After cutting to length, clamp the straps together and drill both at the same time so that the holes line up. Quarter-inch bolts are more than adequate, and the three skeg bolts should be on 1-inch centers.In the drawing, the skeg is cut away in a neat semi-circle around the wheels perimeter. This is a tidy treatment if your skeg is wood, but not really necessary; and, if my skeg were fiberglass, wed definitely hang aesthetics and not cut the skeg, which might well be a structural element. Just let the wheel hang out aft.The only problem youre apt to face in this project is matching the skegs width to that of the wheel. To get the proper width, shim either the skeg or the wheel with stainless-steel or bronze washers. Through-bolt the straps to the skeg, saw off excess bolt length, and youre nearly done. The axle bolt should have a lock nut on it, and, after tightening the lock nut, upset the threads with a chisel so the nuts can't back off. As an alternative, if youre very lucky in your width, a clevis pin can be used in lieu of a bolt for the axle.CALL TO ACTION???

Ditch Bags & Emergency Gear

The hierarchy of life raft survival packs ranges from a basic emergency kit (E-type) that the manufacturer puts together to the internationally standardized Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) A-package, which is more comprehensive and nearly twice as heavy as the E-type kits. The International Sailing Federation (ISAF) and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) have their own guidelines for what should be included in the packs, and these kits tend to be less comprehensive than commercial-grade SOLAS A (offshore) and B (coastal) survival packs.

In our view, none of these standardized packages is ideal. Even those sailors who have a customized life raft survival kit should be prepared to pack additional gear and supplies in an overboard bag.

The contents of all life raft survival packs can be divided into three categories: vessel gear, crew aids, and signaling equipment. Vessel gear includes items like paddles, a heaving device, a bailer and a drogue-equipment that helps in recovering crew, getting away from a sinking or burning vessel, and keeping the life raft afloat.

The essentials packed for crew well-being included seasickness medication, sunblock, and reflective coveralls that help conserve body heat-similar to emergency "space blankets."

For signaling equipment, the more diverse your distress signaling ability, the greater your chance of rescue. Flares, flashlights, and mirrors are a must but more technological options like EPIRBs, 406MHz Personal Locator Beacons (PLB), a portable satellite phone, a cost-effective, 121.5MHz handheld, aviation VHF transceiver for contacting planes overhead and a handheld VHF should all be seriously considered.

For more information on life raft survival packs, purchase Practical Sailors downloadable ebook, Survival at Sea, Volume 2: Ditch Bags & Emergency Gear today!

Ditch Bags & Emergency Gear

A survival situation rarely unfolds as it has been rehearsed. The longer you are on the raft, and the farther you are from a well-equipped RCC, shipping lanes and land, the more your survival depends on things beyond your control. Drinking water immediately enters the equation.

Sailors in the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) should find enough rainfall, but those elsewhere will face bleaker prospects for catching water. All too often, the rain comes with wind and sea and chop, and spray taints the fresh water running down the canopy into the catchment container. The solution is to bring extra drinking water aboard the life raft and to have a hand-pump watermaker in the ditch kit.

For more advice on life raft survival packs, purchase Practical Sailors downloadable ebook, Survival at Sea, Volume 2: Ditch Bags & Emergency Gear today!

Ditch Bags & Emergency Gear

It should come as no surprise but it can be vitally important to keep your abandon-ship gear dry. And the time to think about it and plan for it is now, while youre on dry land. A few items to consider:

All non-waterproof equipment should be protected or stored in waterproof pouches or containers. Waterproof dry bags keep their contents dry and provide plenty of buoyancy. The problem is that they have no inherent flotation, so if opened in the water, they have the potential to fill with water and sink.

Any life raft flashlight should have a waterproof switch. Since the life raft kits usually contain no more than one set of extra batteries, youll want to know what size spares to pack in the abandon-ship bag.

For more advice on life raft survival packs, purchase Practical Sailors downloadable ebook, Survival at Sea, Volume 2: Ditch Bags & Emergency Gear today!

Entry-Level Cruising Boats

How do you define entry-level cruising boat? How about this: a boat that lives in the water, on a mooring or in a slip, and that has space on deck and below in which, say, four people can relax, eat, sleep, and travel in protected waters for a few days in decent comfort. In our attempt to review a trio of popular boats fitting this description, we chose the Beneteau 311, Catalina 310, and Hunter 326.

These boats have all been replaced by newer models, so pricing on the used market is attractive. They seemed to match well in terms of size, sail area, ease of operation, accommodations, and price. Dimensions are comparable, as are working spaces on the deck, the type and arrangement of gear, cockpit size, and space and furnishings below. All are equipped with a suit of sails and headsail furlers. Sure, Catalina builds a 30-footer, and the 320 that could possibly have been included. Hunter has a 306, a twice-stretched version of the Hunter 28 ... and so on. But this is a batch of oranges worthy of comparison. Depending upon options added, shipping, and commissioning, the range is $60,000-$80,000 for a new boat in this market. Competitive pricing makes these boats worth a close look when compared to used boats in the same size range.

An interesting aside: We learned in talking with builders and dealers that they know their market, including personality types, and the likely use of the boats. By their accounts, Catalina owners are more likely to sail, and work on, their boats; Hunter owners are more likely to use the boats for dockside entertainment, and reach for a credit card when repairs are to be made. Beneteau owners seem to fall somewhere in between.

From the comparison of the Beneteau 311, Catalina 310 and Hunter 326. To read the complete review of these three boats, in addition to eleven other entry-level cruisers, purchase Practical Sailors downloadable ebook, Entry-Level Cruiser-Racers, Volume One today!