Refinishing the Brightwork

The West Wight Potter does not have a lot of exposed wood.  Different production years included more wood parts at times.  On my 1980 Potter 15 I only have 4 pieces of brightwork, plus a companionway door, wood tiller, and some wood parts in the rudder.

This year the small parts are getting refinished with Deks Olje two part finish.  I received two cans (one of each part) as a hand-me-down gift from my father.

I removed the parts from the boat so that I could work indoors and avoid getting any varnish on the fiberglass.  The handles are from the cabin top.  The two small blocks are the brackets for the bottom of the companionway door.

The parts were first sanded lightly, then coated with as many coats of Deks Olje #1 as I could put on in one evening.  The instructions tell you to keep putting it on about every 15 minutes until it stops absorbing, then wipe off the excess.

After step 1 dries completely (about a week) I began coating with Deks Olje #2 (Gloss Finish).  The picture here was taken after the first coat of #2 was applied.  I will continue to apply one coat each day for the next few days and then the parts will be ready to install in about a week.