I was reminded this weekend why I gave up on wooden boats some six years ago. The wash-boards of my Contessa 32 had peeled and I took them home to clean off the old varnish.

With each board gripped in the shed’s vice I discovered that even though the varnish was shot and flaking there were still little areas sheltered close to fittings where it was in stubbornly good condition. I blunted two scrapers removing it.

Then because the sandpaper did not fit the sander, I had to manually  sand back the black weathered streaks and bring out the glorious orange grain.
This followed by two coats of acrylic varnish saw them reinstated on the boat a trophy to a day’s work and thanksgiving there’s no more to do.