Varnishing Toe and Rub Rails

January 1st, 2016

I set out to do very little on the boat today, but alas, the work schedule over the last week has created good momentum to keep carrying on.  Yesterday's marathon session of painting on 4 coats of barrier paint and 2 coats of ablative bottom paint took its toll on my shoulder and neck - isolated to the right side, being right-handed.  I downed a few ibuprofen and a good breakfast, and was now ready to tackle the toe and rub rails.

My goal for the day was to do the final shaping of the rails and then sand with 80-grit and 150-grit to prepare for that first coat of varnish.  Of course, the shaping and sanding took 75% of the time I allotted to the project today.  I made some notes when I had the rails on the boat in the dry-fit stage: the bottom of the rub rails toward the bow needed some shaping to sit on the hull better.  Using the 6" random orbital finish sander, I completed this portion of the final rail shaping.  Next, I used the 6" sander to create a chamfer on either side of each rail and down the length of the rails.  I used 80-grit paper to then sand the chamfer into a eye-pleasing and toe-pleasing radius.  At the same time I was easing the chamfers, I also sanded the balance of the surface area on each of the rails with the same 80-grit paper.  Finally, I used 150-grit paper and sanded the entirety of each rail.

After the sanding was completed, I thoroughly vacuumed each rail, the work horses, and the patio floor around the work area.  In the final preparation for varnishing, I wiped down each rail with a rag dampened with acetone.  I'm always amazed at how much residual dust is captured with a solvent inspired rag...after vacuuming the surface!

The varnish I am using in Epifanse Clear Varnish.  I thinned this first coat by 50% in order to get a good, deep soak into the mahogany rails.  Successive coats of varnish will be thinned by 5 to 10%, by volume.  The goal is to get a coat on every evening for the next 5 nights.

Total Time: 4 Hrs.