18 Chris Craft Continental

Well I'm underway, The hardware has been removed and the deck  and transom are just about ready to get stripped. There is a plank missing from the rear deck and another that has a pretty nasty crack in it. Not much to be worried about other thsn the blonde  king plank has been painted, hopefully it will come off clean.

Now that the interior is out,we can get the bilge clean. This boat has been in storage for a while and the Mud Dobber's have built nest everywhere. They are pretty impressive but you don't want them clogging up the bilge pump. We've masked the deck off and applied a chemical stripper. It was in the 40's this week so it took a  little while for the stripper to go off. Allow it to stay on long enough to be effective, but don't let it dry out. Remove what you can, and then go back to hit the spots you've missed. Be diligent about cleanliness you don't this stuff flying around.

Once all the varnish has been remove I like to rub the area down with a dry cloth then give it a vacuum. I begin with sanding the covering boards and areas where planks meet by hand, with 80 grit adhesive back line sanding paper. Always watching the grain direction. Cross grain scratches can be a real pain, if you miss some they'll show up once you re-stain. from here I'll work it down to 150. You might be tempted to take it to 220, but the the grain becomes to tight for the filler stain, and it just wipes off. 

Sanding and bleaching done. Stain and sealing next. Then bring on the varnish.