Help with Sanding

I mentioned in the last blog that I had plunged into the floor board varnishing project without seeking advice.  Fortunately Ib from Aeolus didn't see much sense in scraping and sanding by hand and suggested that I use his sander with rough (40 grit if possible) sand paper.  I had always sanded old varnish only enough to get the loose material off but Ib reckoned that I'd be able to go down to the bare wood.

He looked at the flooring and seemed to be impressed at how sturdy it is.  The teak "veneer" that I had used in my description is actually teak decking 9mm thick.  That is bonded to 22mm of marine ply giving a  nice overall thickness of 31mm (1.25 in.)

The photo at the right shows one of the boards in profile.

I started the day by visiting Comex and purchasing another can of varnish, sandpaper, and disposable gloves. The roughest sandpaper that I could find was 60 grit but that turned out to be fine.  (Comex, by the way, is a large Mexican company that I have found excellent for paints, painting supplies, anti fouling, etc.  They sell good stuff and it is about 2/3 the price of imported material.)

As Ib had suggested the sanding technique worked well, though it took hours of effort to prepare the next four panels.  I will put the first coat of varnish on those panels with the fear at the back of my mind that these four panels are going to make the six panels that I have already done look terrible by comparison. 

At this point I have removed all floor panels except the one aft of the engine in the quarter berth area.  For the first time ever the entire bilge is open, which is a rare thing because the narrow floor boards running along the edge of the cabin are normally screwed down.  The photo shows the exposed bilge and a sanded panel on the table ready for its first coat of varnish.

Notice how dry the bilge is. (YES!)  This is in spite of the fact that I ran the engine at 1200-1500 rpm for 1.2 hours with the propeller engaged in order to put some hours on it.  With the old prop shaft and packing I would have gotten an annoying gallon or so of water in the bilge.

Teresa changes the bed spread along with the sheets once a week.  I looked at the latest bed spread when I returned to the apartment and had visions of the fires of hell licking at me from both sides.  I hope not.  I've already spent a summer in La Paz.  Maybe Teresa is trying to tell me something.  Maybe it's me trying to tell me something.