[Public-list] Re:Cetol, etc.

[Gordon White]

    I just finished my semi-annual application of Cetol Lite. Finally 
got smart and did it from the pier, turning the boat around to do the 
port side the same  way. The tide was just right. (Much easier on my 72 
year old knees than trying to re-do the rails from on the boat.)  The 
old Cetol really looked nice. I almost let it go until spring, but it 
was so nice today I was ambitious. I first, years ago,  used varnish, 
and it was a bear. Had to strip it off a couple of times, though 
presumably light sanding and re-coating each spring should be enough, 
but I guess the Virginia sun and the oil in the teak did bad things to 
the varnish (several kinds of varnish.)

    Then I tried teak oil for a couple of years and it had to be re-done 
about once a month or it looked terrible. Cetol is not as pretty as new 
varnish, but on my boat it is not orange, but, well, teak color and it 
lasts a year before it really needs re-doing and  can go a year and a 
half, and re-finishing is pretty easy.

    Bilges: My boat (# 275, 1967) has a layer of sloppy fiberglass over 
the iron ballast in the keel.  There seems to be some kind of sand in 
there around the iron. Any ideas on that? Whitby used sand to pack 
around the iron insert? Anyway, the fiberglass over the iron is pretty 
poor in places. There is a fairly sound bottom to the space under the 
cabin sole where the batteries are (I would not call it the bilge - the 
bilge is under there) but under the engine there was a flimsy bit of 
fiberglass that I eventually took out, as it was not solid and got in 
the way of  putting in the electric bilge pump. I kinda think the iron 
ballast is sitting in bilge water but I do not know anything to do about it.

- Gordon White, Brigadoon II

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