J/30 Class Association Forums J/30 Forum The Boat, Sails and Equipment Re-finish Cabin Sole

I'm getting ready to refinish the sole in my boat. I had heard that there were some threads on this in the old forum. Anyone care to share some ideas on how to best accomplish this. Thanks in advance.

I'm also working on refinishing the cabin sole, and I posted a message on the old forum just before it went down. I too would like to know what others think. Here's what I've found out: one person who had a very nice teak floor swore by Seafin teak oil/varnish substitute. A Baba 30 owner I interrogated said that Seafin makes the wood darker over time. This wouldn't be such an issue inside the already bright J-30.
I don't know how bad the sole is on your boat, but on Nirelle I have to sand the varnish entirely off. Someone with experience recommended a chemical stripper. Sanding is a TON of work!
Now matter how much trouble this is, it is without question worth keeping up on. The "holly" part of the sole is much less resistant to rot than the teak. If you live in a wet climate you could end out digging rotted holly out and replacing it (like me!). Good luck.

I just finished finishing the cabin sole (and the rest of the cabin as well) today. I had to sand off all the varnish on the floor also. I did not try chemical strippers, just used a Porter Cable 6" orbital sander and 80 grit pads. I then coated it with Benjamin Moore Impervo 440 Spar Varnish. 5 coats on the floor and high wear areas, and 3 coats everywhere else. It looks great. Time will tell how it will age.
Someone told me that the Benjamin Moore product is relabelled and sold by a boat builder as thier own. I have not confirmed this.

Ed Austin
Chinook
447

I see you used 80 grit sandpaper. Did you go finer? Other people have told me that they sanded their sole too smooth and had to add a nonskid to the varnish. Does 80 grit sanding still give a nice finish and a solid footing?

I went through this process last year. Here's how I handled it.

First, I stripped the floor with a general purpose paint/varnish stripper. From there, I did the sanding with a finishing sander. I worked my way through the various grits. Don't remember what I ended up with...maybe a 180 or 220. Next, I sealed the floor with West epoxy. (You need to use one of their clear coat hardeners, not the regular hardener.) If you follow their directions you see that you have to wash the floor after the epoxy cures. I finished off the floor with two coats of Epifane two-part epoxy gloss varnish (It's expensive!). I like the gloss finish. With boat shoes, we haven't had any slippage on the floor during racing. (Aren't crew suppose to be up on the rail?) What is amazing is how this floor holds up. The main salon floor looks as good today as it did a year ago. I've had several other J/30 owners compliment me on the floor. At the time I thought it was a big project but like most undertakings, if you put the time in, you'll reap the rewards.

Good luck. Contact me if you need more details.

Bob Rude
#352
Mmmmm

After sanding the cabin sole to bare wood with 80 grit, I put down the first coat. Next I sanded with 100 grit, then another coat. Then 220 grit, another coat. Lastly, Scotch-brite, and another coat. Grip was fine when I was hosing down the interior for the final cleaning. We will see when it heals over (tough to simulate on the trailer).

Ed Austin
Chinook

Seems like the year to refinish floors. I also am doing my floor over. I used a chemical stripper that worked extremely well. I then sanded with 150 and then 220 grit. I am using epifanes gloss varnish thinned per manufacturers recommendation-sand with 220 after first and second coats, 300 after next coats. I will top coat with "hand rubbed effect" epifanes (sixth coat) for looks and better non-skid. Ed, we can compare results up in Barrington!

Refinishing the cabin sole is on my project list for this winter. It's in pretty bad shape. (Of course this is also an advantage; 90% of the floor has no varnish remaining, so that's less that needs to be scraped!) I'm considering bleaching it with TeKa, putting on a whole lot of coats of varnish, and getting into the habit of applying a singe coat yearly. Thoughts?

While the cover for the bilge can be removed, what about the rest of the flooring? I'd imagine that sanding inside the boat would make an awful mess; for those who have refinished their floors, did you remove the flooring beforehand? If so, how?

Thanks,
Ryan Pierce, #337
rdpierce@pobox.com

And if anyone has removed the floor...What's under it?

I refinished the flooring on my J-30 (195). The Holly was roten away. I thought I would be able to chisel it out and just glue in new strips but I found out that underneath my existing floor was another floor that was roten. The top sole was teak planking with holly strips - about 3/8 " thick, underneath that was a teak venear plywood. I'm not sure that either floors were original. I ripped out all the flooring. I used the teak planking with strips of lighter wood to rebuild the floor. Polyurethane varnish is on the floor now - it looks great.