The deck/sole/floor in the cockpit is looking tired. I have started scraping the old varnish off with cabinet scrapers and a heat gun. The varnish is very thick and its slow going. I may resort to a chemical remover – will see.
I switched from the cabinet scraper to the common hardware store style with the heavy metal scraper blade.
Seems wrong to varnish a teak deck/sole but the previous varnish was soaked into the teak and I did not want to sand it out (reduce the sole thickness). I suppose the varnish will help protect it, looks good, and will last as it is hardly in the sun. I suspect the previous job was done well before the last refit (2008/2009)… so perhaps 15 or 20 years. That is some serious mileage for an exterior varnish job.
I will put a second coat on it now and additional coats in the future (as needed).
