Gradually, you get used to it and stop seeing the little marks that make the boat age. To remedy this, the first step is to revisit the whole boat with a critical eye, noting everything you notice. Everything that is ugly, broken, damaged, or simply dated! A list of small "miseries" that we will do our best to repair or hide.
Older adhesives leave particularly unsightly glue marks, whether they are tattoos, Velcro pads, or adhesive strips that are supposed to be used to attach screens. Avoid using a scraper or acetone, which can damage fragile surfaces. Depending on the nature of the glue, household alcohol, F-gasoline or white spirit will work well.
The removal of old equipment leaves discolored spots on the wood. This is due to photo-synthesis, the action of light that darkens the exposed parts. There is no need to try to strip, sand or stain to make up for these differences in color. It would be a lot of work for a random result. You can let the light naturally attenuate these marks, or mask them with new equipment.
To hide the holes, it is best to cover them. A cutout in a dashboard will be enlarged to make room for a screen, a car radio or a switch. Screen printers sell plates of a material normally used for engraving labels. This is a good way to create a switch or indicator panel that will hide a good area. Elsewhere, a cubbyhole, fire extinguisher or coat hook can be used as a "shadow cover".
On board an old boat, more energy is spent on erasing the clumsiness of previous owners than on treating real wear and tear! To fill the holes, it is important to build up a palette of materials and colors adapted to the materials present. Cold solder, made of 2 components that are mixed together, is, for example, of a gray color that is very compatible with that of aluminum glazing frames.
The shades of wood are endless and you can't rely on the species alone on a tube of wood paste to choose the shade you want. Oak, mahogany, beechâ?¦ also take a tube of white that will allow you to make your own mix. Also do a test to see how the shade evolves after drying. As the product is not particularly dangerous, you can apply it with your fingertip.
The screw holes in the polyester are treated with paraffin gelcoat. The first step is to clean the opening with a small milling cutter, which has the dual effect of removing small chips and providing a nice surface for adhesion. The gelcoat is applied, taking care to leave a slight overthickness to compensate for the drying shrinkage. A film of clear Scotch tape placed on top provides a smooth finish while insulating the product from the air.
While wood pulp can be removed with a simple "comma" of the finger, the same cannot be said for other materials. Rather than sanding, which could scratch the surrounding surface, a sharp scalpel-like tool should be used to remove the excess. Model tool handles are perfectly suited for this purpose. A light polish will finish off the edges of the repair.
To refresh the woodwork, we dab varnish with a cloth on the marked or damaged areas. Once the wood has drunk the product, but before it is completely dry, we wipe off the excess with a cloth slightly soaked in solvent. Two passes of this treatment are enough to restore the luster to our woodwork, without having to completely redo the varnishes.
Nothing is uglier than unsuitable or even untidy screws! We will track down the "fake stainless steel" that sweats rust, but also the milled screws placed on supports that are notâ?¦ The cruciform heads misplaced among their slotted cousins will be removed and replaced to form harmonious sets. The hunt for ugly screws may seem futile, but it doesnâ??t take much to ruin the efforts made so far!