Paragon - Refinishing.

cpelton wrote: Hi, I Have a 93 paragon that needs refinishing.

OH the humanity...I thought all those were trailer queens.

Welcome!

I used to own the Burgundy Paragon, beautiful boats, still miss that one.

On the teak the procedure is the same as your swim deck, clean and then oil, will make things a bit slick however.

Sure some of the other guy's will help out with the Mahogany, never had to do ours.

Good luck and get that boat in the Diaries!!

PS, ours was never a trailer queen either, skied, footed and everything else behind it from day 1!!

Thanks for the help so far! I'll post some photos up tomorrow. Its not in too bad of shape; there are spots where the varnish has worn off and the wood has bleached from the sun. There does not seem to be any soft spots or rotting. As for laqeur what product would you recommend? I've read that Sikkins Cetol Light is a good product to use on Mahogany. Any recommendations in oil to use on the teak floor and swim deck? The bow has black sealant between the planks, is it ok to varnish over this?

I know, lots of questions! I'm a beginner when it comes to refinishing.

Thanks!

No problem, I expected to be sanding the wood bare, here are the photos.

What a neat boat that is. I love the wood plugs in the deck planking and floor planking- what a neat touch.

The only negative I see is that those seats would get pretty hot here in the south.

BuffaloBFN wrote: The only negative I see is that those seats would get pretty hot here in the south.

But they have water down there now so they can at least boat!!

Greg, What's the latest on your engine?

BuffaloBFN wrote: That my idea of a wooden boat project! Good luck with it...wish it was in my garage.

I'd bet with you having it Greg it would look awesome after seeing your woodworking skills.

CP
The Paragon has to be near the top of my list of favorite boats, and I haven't even seen one in person. There are three in the diaries, soon to be four, and they all look great.
Take good care of her.
Steve

This will be an ongoing project over the winter for a few of us at my company during slow times. I don't have experience with refinishing wood although a couple people who work here do. Thanks for the comments so far, the seats are set to be recovered with matching original vinyl, carpet will be replaced and an all alpine stereo complete with sirius sat radio, ipod, amp and speakers (mounted in the current location so there will be no cutting of new holes). I will take more pictures today of the bow deck. Unfortunatly this boat wasn't cared for as it should have been. That is going to change and will look better than new once we are done.

Here's some more photos. As you can see it has green carpet surrounding the doghouse and below the seats, thats the carpet being replaced.
Under the hood:


Bow:

cp, Thanks for the pictures of the deck. I was trying to see if the deck seams need to be reefed out. It's still hard to tell. We'll know more after you get the wood stripped. I'd remove the seaming compound if I was doing it but it's a tough and time consuming process. The preferred method is to caulk the seams before the last or second to last coat of varnish so you will only end up with one or two coats of varnish on the seaming compound. I don't like having the 8 plus coats required on top of the seams. Hopefully CC used some decent caulking like Sika-flex 291 LOT so it's still possible.

Looks like you have some talent in you shop from the looks of your other projects! Thats great but I'd like to mention a few things unique to marine refinishing wood.

As mentioned before, stay with the top of the line marine spar varnish and don't use any polyurethanes or automotive clear coatings. There are two major qualities about spar varnish that are needed on wood in a marine application. First, it's ability to handle the moisture and the swelling/shrinking of the wood as moisture changes - it's soft/flexible. I've seen wood boats done with clear coat by a automotive person fail in less than one season from the clear coat cracking/checking. The second is the marine varnish contains UV inhibitors that prevent/slow the UV bleaching out the color of the wood. You see it on your Paragon where the varnish is gone!

Brushing varnish is really the tried and true method of getting the varnish down. To spray, the reduction needed to get it trough even a fairly large fluid tip on the gun leaves a very thin mil. build with each coat. Some have had success with heating the varnish but I haven't! As the varnish cools (even in a insulated cup) the viscosity increases. Varnishing is time consuming because dry times between the 8 plus coats are at least 24 hours and then sanding is needed between these coats too but it's what is needed. You will need the best Badger hair brush you can find. Don't let it dry out between coats. Keep it suspended in spirits.

Once you get the old finish stripped of ALL the old coating, grain filler and stain, solvent wipe it down and let dry. Sand and bleach. Bleaching is needed because of the spots on you deck where the UV has lightened the wood. The bleach will remove almost all the color from the wood. I've found that "Super Wood" wood bleach made by the Burton L. Norton C0. does a fantastic job.

Sand again and if you like what you see then it's time for the filler stain. If you still have some light/dark spots then you may need a second bleaching. Stain will NOT cover up the bad spots!

Filler stains do the job of filling the grain of the mahogany (it's a open grain wood) and staining at the same time. It's made in several different colors but looking at your pictures. I'd have to say it's brown mahogany. Get a couple different colors at test it on some scrap mahogany (bleach it too). Filling the grain is a must to level out the surface of the wood. You will never get enough varnish on the wood to level/fill the open grain.

Next, varnish!! I'll hold off on that for awhile! Keep your progress posted!

BTW, jamestown distributors is a great spot for your refinishing supplies.

I just did a search for the Burton Norton wood bleach and couldn't find it. Maybe they are no longer around - My 2 gal. kit has lasted me for lots of years!! Here is a two part kit (2 part is preferred) woodworkers supply wood bleach BTW, Woodworkers supply is a great outfit too. I even have their Visa card!! Like the points I get on all my woodworking supply purchases!!

Chuck,
You're correct that I was preoccupied with the wood refinishing and although I did notice the Dodge didn't recognize it!! It's been a few years since we were running around in our Power Wagons!! (Guys, I had a 1960 W200 - the last year of the flat head!)

cp,
Looking even closer at the pictures of the wood, the areas where the finish is gone and the lighter wood is showing may not be from UV bleaching out the color. To me, it now looks like CC did the "quick and dirty" finish job!! Spraying the wood with a couple coats of tinted polyurethane (Polyshades) You will notice the dry film mil. build to be very thin and all the open grain is showing indicating no grain filling was done on the Paragon. I've never seen a Paragon in person as it came from the factory but your's sure looks like that's what was done. Chris - comments? Wood boats from the factory no matter who made them never looked like the glass smooth finishes you see at all the shows. It was grain fill/stain, 2 or 3 coats of varnish and they went out the door! We all have the tendency to over restore our classics and antiques whether it be marine or automotive!
cp, You never answered the question as to what you want the finish to look like - factory or show? From the looks of your other projects, at this point, I'm assuming show!

Greg, Alan or any other woodworker, I'm sure a chill/shudder went up your spines when I mentioned Polyshades!!

8122pbrainard wrote: Greg, Alan or any other woodworker, I'm sure a chill/shudder went up your spines when I mentioned Polyshades!!

You think they could've gotten the original finish with that stuff? I have a very dusty can of it in the shop...so dusty that I forgot it was there until you mentioned it!

Sorry to take so long to reply, We will be aiming for better than factory of course, its been put on hold for a while now as things have become busy around the shop.