Sanding/varnishing Q - seeking advice from old hands

[scrumper]

My boat is on the hard outside under shrink-wrap. I can access through a door I made. This year I have to sand and finish a lot of teak trim - the gunwale cap around the cockpit, all the companionway trim, the foredeck rails, and the pulpit. I'm going to sand and Cetol it, I don't have time for real varnish.

If I do the sanding under the shrinkwrap, am I creating huge dust problems for myself? I'm going to hand sand as there's no power at the boat. I'd love to do the Cetol application under the wrap as it'll keep the yard dust (and any rain) off the finish while it dries, but I'm concerned it's going to be super dusty under there even a few days after the sanding.

Would love to know what you guys would suggest. Do the whole job under wrap (with respirator of course), or pull the wrap off and do it exposed to all the crap blown around in the wind...

Haven't had to do any significant wood work on this boat yet so I'm flying blind.

Thanks!

 

[Golfman25]

I would look into removing the trim and doing at home.

I would also use power (portable generator outside) and a shop vac to suck up the dust as you sand.

Good luck. It’s a sucky project

 

[Skybolt]

When you say Cetol, you mean only the stain right? The clear finish that goes over the stain is really needed to protect the stain. If the stain is left on it's own, it will start flaking off in one season. JMO.

To your asking of sanding under the cover, yeah the dust is going to remain much like varnishing outdoors in may. I would wait to apply any finishes until the boat is in the water or the cover is off.

 

[scrumper]

Thanks guys. Not a chance I can remove the trim unfortunately. That would be ideal though. Sounds like I'll be sanding under wrap so I can do that at leisure, then pop the wrap off early on a nice calm day, clean up the dust, and get a coat or two on.

Yeah just the Cetol Marine Light - it made some claims about being hard wearing so that's all I was planning, two or three coats of it. I know of the clear coat though, sounds like I might need that too. My kids do stand on the cockpit gunwale trim when they go swimming or climb up to the foredeck though so I'm nervous about slapping a potentially slippery finish over it. The whole reason to use Cetol is to get something harder wearing than varnish so if it needs the clear then so be it.