An alternative to varnish

Don't be a slave to varnish. Louise Ras tells how she transitioned to wood oil instead

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With exterior fittings of wood - or worse, if your boat's entirely made of wood -chances are weekends with clear skies and light winds are more often spent varnishing than sailing.

And if you start chatting with neighbours and friends, they'll all have their favourite brands, processes, and tips and tricks for the glossiest finish. But no matter how good your preparation, application, and dedication, one day the inevitable will happen: cracked varnish!

This is one of the most frustrating parts of an otherwise satisfying art.

Our 12m/39ft schooner Hirondelle was built in the 1990s with wood strip-planking, so it has plenty of exterior woods that need to be cared for. During our refit, we used a wood stain followed by Epifanes' marine varnish. The deep colour and glossy finish looked great. But after four years of sailing, living aboard, and struggling to keep up, we began to open up to new ideas and alternatives to varnish.

Oil as an alternative

One day, while blowing off some steam, complaining that I was having a tough time maintaining impeccable varnish, a neighbour suggested we try wood oils instead. We'd previously heard about oiling wood (some good reviews but mostly bad) and were a little sceptical.

How long does it last? Will we need to apply it more often? What happens if we can't keep up? Won't the wood darken? Does it really protect the wood? Does it smell bad? Will it come off when it rains? Is it easy to apply?

We'd decided against saturating our iroko deck with teak oil, preferring to let it become grey from UV and salt water. Several shipwrights strongly encouraged us to keep it natural and use salt water to protect the wood. Yet some of the same shipwrights had also recommended using natural oils to maintain our interior wood; we were curious.

First application