So the grabrails, trim, caprail, rubrail, etc. on our Passport 40 needed (need) some significant work. I don't know the last time they were refinished, but the Cetol that was on them was coming off in many places to bare wood.
I looked at a variety of finishes. I had originally picked straight Cetol (it has the name) but after review, I found that it needed to dry for 24 hours between coats. I don't have that much time so I started looking at alternatives.
I selected West Marine WoodPro Plus Semi-Gloss. It only needs 4 hours (in 65 degree weather) to dry between coats and is a fairly clear stain. You don't need to sand between coats.
Since the wood on our boat is starting to look in rough shape, we heavily sanded it down to get rid of as much damaged wood as possible. We decided to do just the grabrails and the "crown molding" as I call it around the top edge of the cabintop. We are going to hold off on the Caprail until Spring (we will probably have to remove a lot of hardware to sand it bare).
Anyway, we're only two coats on at this point in time and it looks incredible! It's hard to differentiate it from standard
varnish. The funny thing is that it's actually made by Epifanes. We used a foam brush to apply it. While it appeared fairly thin while still in the can, it painted on well and didn't run. It thickened up within 30-60 seconds and we were able to smooth it out. There were no
lines or weird buildups anywhere. The color is excellent - especially when compared to Cetol.
I'm going to experiment with it a little over the winter. I'm going to
paint a few layters of Cetol on a chunk of teak, and then scuff it up and
paint over the Cetol with the West product. I'm curious as to what color it will turn out.
Anyway - color was good, application was easy, it looks wonderful. I'd definitely recommend this product.
. I love the color compared to the original Cetol we have. Now I want to get as much of the Cetol as possible stripped off! I hear the newer Cetol (light, etc.) are much less orange.
