Anderi, Question #1: Oil or varnish? It is a matter of personal preference. You will probably have as much debate as the boltrope or slugs question. I personally use 6 coats of UV resistant marine spar varnish on my teak after touroghly cleaning and lightly sanding it. Question #2: I clean the fiberglass with a good cleaner like 409, use soft scrub to remove any stubborn spots then, for protection, I put on 2 coats of auto paste wax which I renew anually. The algie and mold doesn't stick well to a waxed surface. Question #3: I remove old decals by carefully scraping them off with a single edge razpr blade. I then remove any remaining sticky adhesive with a product called "Goo Gone". Question # 4: Sounds like a product I once used. Looked good for awhile but, when it peeled, it peeled in chunks. I don't think it holds up well to UV. I sanded, repaired and fiberglass sheathed my rudder then painted it to match the topsides and bottom paint. Question # 5: The hatch boards are probably marine grade mahogany plywood or maybe solid teak. You can remove the old varnish by carefully scraping it and then lightly sanding. Be careful not to scrape or sand through the veneer to the cheaper wood underneath if it is plywood. The boards can then be varnished with a good UV resistant marine spar varnish. Question #7: If the bedding compound has cracks in it, it is time to re-bed. Otherwise it can wait till the off season. Question # 8: Beats me, my M17 is one of the rare origonal fixed keel boats (only 20 made in 1974). Ron M17 #14 Griselda> From: andreic@math.wisc.edu> To: montgomery_boats@mailman.xmission.com> Date: Sun, 13 Jul 2008 10:22:01 -0500> Subject: Re: M_Boats: First couple of outings> > Thanks to all of you who offered an opinion. We went yesterday on the > lake again with the M-17, and the rigging and de-rigging went much > better this time. I guess it'll get better with experience.> > A few more questions:> > -- I am now refinishing the outside wood, which was covered in some > kind of varnish which was peeling badly. What do people prefer, leave > the teak oiled and not varnish it, or put a coat of Cetol on it?> -- there are some spots on the deck where some small dark spots are > starting to appear. I guess it is probably some light mold. Any > suggestions for products to remove it, and then is there something I > could put on to stunt its growth?> -- how do you remove old decals (old registration numbers/registration > stickers)?> -- I have found at Home Depot a product called liquid fiberglass, > which you pour on wood and they say it creates a coating like 60 > layers of varnish. Has anyone used anything like this? I wanted to use > it on the spots on the rudder where the existing varnish is peeling, > as a temporary fix. In the future I was planning on stripping the > entire rudder and recoating it in this stuff.> -- are the hatch boards teak or regular wood? How do you strip them?> -- and my old question: how urgent is it to rebed all the deck > hardware? What compund do people use to seal the screws? How long a > job is it? Any hints on how to do the job? My deck is in very good > shape, with no soft spots, but I'd like to keep it that way. I had > hoped to do this job in the fall, nowadays when I have free time I'd > rather go sailing...> -- is there any special maintenance that needs to be done to the two > centerboard bolts? The gelcoat around them shows slight signs of rust > on an area maybe 1/4" around the bolt. Also, the gelcoat around the > rear bolt shows some small cracks, and has started to slightly bubble > off. I could post some photos later. What needs to be done about this? > The cb itself is moving very easily up and down.> > Thanks,> > Andrei.> > _______________________________________________> http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/montgomery_boats _________________________________________________________________ Use video conversation to talk face-to-face with Windows Live Messenger. http://www.windowslive.com/messenger/connect_your_way.html?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL...