Ericson OEM factory interior wood finish treatment?

I am contemplating rehabilitating my interior wood finish. This is all Christian's fault once again, as the gleaming interior of his boat in recent videos kindles a mixture of envy and inadequacy in me.

I realize I can choose my own adventure as to whether I use Teak Oil or a gloss or matte varnish.

Does anyone know what the factory treatment would have been by Ericson?

The Star-Brite teak cleaning / brightening system seems to produce good results, but then what for the 'top coat'?

I applied some Murphy's oil to a couple of spots this spring and they looked better, but a more property going over would be the approach now. It seems like a matte-finish varnish?

Thank you in advance.

Our interior teak was finished with an oil, with a slight cherry stain in it, to help blend in the appearance of the veneers and solids. We have lightened it up with stripping the old oil & dirt off, and have almost all of it gloss varnished now. The "natural" lighter golden look of the teak pleases us, but this is all subjective. Rumor is that EY would varnish out the interior on a new boat as an ($) option.

Loren Beach said:

Our interior teak was finished with an oil, with a slight cherry stain in it, to help blend in the appearance of the veneers and solids. We have lightened it up with stripping the old oil & dirt off, and have almost all of it gloss varnished now. The "natural" lighter golden look of the teak pleases us, but this is all subjective. Rumor is that EY would varnish out the interior on a new boat as an ($) option.

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Did you use a stripping product to remove the existing or some kind of “cleaner” product?

We used: https://itwperformancepolymers.com/products/marinetex/te-ka/
We do have to mask off and use wet rags and paper towels a lot for interior work since you cannot flush the area with water. (!)

My 1984 factory interior was satin varnish. I've touched up a few spots but most of it's original. (We don't get much interior mold or mildew in the low humidity environment down here.)

I use high gloss Interlux Schooner for surfaces such as table, fiddles and tops of furniture bulkheads, anyplace where hands grab. And for the sole, which gets two new coats of Schooner about every two years.

It does look good after all those years, but GoPro default exposure is vivid and tends to give a false wow factor.

I think our E30+ was varnished at the factory, and it all looks like a satin, not semi or high gloss. It's a really nice look, where I think gloss might be a bit overpowering.
Frank

I just refinished one of the sidewall panels in the V-berth where the old varnish was looking a little thin. I use Epifanes, both matte and gloss. When using matte finish alone, I thought it tended to dull and hide the features of the wood a bit too much. Matte is intended for a final coat, and not for multiple build-up coats. When using gloss alone, I find the finish a little too glossy & shiny for a 35 year old boat. I did a 50:50 mix of matte and gloss and still found it a bit glossy. I sanded lightly with #220 paper before varnishing.


The panel is the 50:50 mix. The surrounding trim is the original Ericson finish.

I like the look of oil. I usually clean the wood with a vinegar water mixture solution then apply a coat of oil annually. The vinegar really makes boat fresh all season too.

The original Ericson satin in Ken's post above looks really good in the whole interior. When I refinished the salon sole/floor I mixed 50:50 satin and semi-gloss and got a very nice look, not too bright and shiny, but not dull either.
Frank

goldenstate said:

I am contemplating rehabilitating my interior wood finish. This is all Christian's fault once again, as the gleaming interior of his boat in recent videos kindles a mixture of envy and inadequacy in me.

I realize I can choose my own adventure as to whether I use Teak Oil or a gloss or matte varnish.

Does anyone know what the factory treatment would have been by Ericson?

The Star-Brite teak cleaning / brightening system seems to produce good results, but then what for the 'top coat'?

I applied some Murphy's oil to a couple of spots this spring and they looked better, but a more property going over would be the approach now. It seems like a matte-finish varnish?

Thank you in advance.

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Thanks @goldenstate! Very timely topic. I've been thinking the same thing regarding Christian's videos.

@Christian Williams , Thelonius II's interior looks fantastic and the gloss details really stand out! I was wondering where you applied gloss vs matte, so many thanks on your response above.

My bulkheads have some dark spots on them. I am relatively new to varnishing, but hoping I can work on it this spring. Unfortunately, more and more boatyards in Maine are shying away from DIY work while the boat is on the hard.

Dave

I would look at polymerized tung oil. It's a very hard, durable coating that builds in thickness just like varnish. The recommended sealer is just thinned tung oil which gives a really nice satin finish and can be the finish itself if that's what you want. My hickory dining table at home has it along with any joinery I've added to the boat.
I'll post pics in a few days when I get back to both.

No strong opinion about it, but one perceived 'plus' of our scheme of cleaning and varnishing our interior wood is that this "seals" the surface against future mold and mildew penetration.

One can also use fine bronze wool to create a nice satin finish if a glossy varnish is just too much. On my E27 I didn't like the look of the high gloss varnish I put on my new table, but was very happy with how it looked after deglossing with the bronze wool.

I read linseed oil and tung oil are susceptible to mildew unless modified with mildewcide. This may not be an issue in moisture-deprived Southern California, but it was my experience with linseed oil on the east coast on Sabre 28 with abundant interior teak. I switched to high quality lemon oil instead.

I have my doubts about tung oil being susceptible to mildew.

I was trying to make mahogany match the original teak finish, but I think it still applies to refinishing the original wood work. My epiphany came when I realized there was already many different colors of wood on my boat from the factory ranging from yellow to red. Instead of focusing on the color, I started focusing on the finish. After testing a few different products, I ended up with Interlux Goldspar.


Here's some pics of test pieces as well as some really good advise from other users:


I really like how forgiving the satin finish is.

jtsai said:

I read linseed oil and tung oil are susceptible to mildew unless modified with mildewcide. This may not be an issue in moisture-deprived Southern California, but it was my experience with linseed oil on the east coast on Sabre 28 with abundant interior teak. I switched to high quality lemon oil instead.

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what is the brand of the high quality lemon oil?

It was Formby's Lemon Oil, unfortunately it is no longer available. My experience with this product was on the interior teak surfaces, have never tried on Ericson's mahogany interior. Ericson appears to have better cabin air circulation, mildew has not been a problem.

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Christian Williams said:

It does look good after all those years, but GoPro default exposure is vivid and tends to give a false wow factor.

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Ah! The old pro photographer’s trick…increase color saturation to make things look better and more colorful than they really are in life. I’ve noticed that on my own GoPro vids too. I also think that satin looks better on most of the surfaces except the wood trim areas like the hand holds and fiddles where gloss looks good and stands up better. However, on my E32-3 I’ve been thinking about painting the section just below the head liner white because the PO was negligent in repairing a fix port water leak which severely stained the panel. I had to use CPES in that area, along the cutout, to stabilize it. Did lots of sanding to try and knock down the stains but I don’t think I’ll be able to get it back to near factory original. So painting it white to a shade that is close to the head liner color is the way to go, I think. Christian did this on his old E32-3 and did write it up here on EYO with photos along with a selected Interlux paint color too, if my memory serves. The finished job looked good and brightened up the cabin a bit.

Below is a photo of the fix port light repair in progress showing the “blank” I made to seal the opening while I worked on the frame and glass. I worked solo on this job so the handle was necessary to pull the bland panel up against the cabin while I tightened the bolts. But you can see the staining, before I tried to remove or reduce it, below the opening.

Interlux Hatteras Off-White works to nearly match the headliner. Remove trim before painting. Blog entry here.