Refurbishing an old tiller

[RedBaron]

On my recently acquired 94 Com-Pac 16 the Tiller was in pretty rough shape. But I did not think it was bad enough to warrant replacing. So I figured I'd try my hand at refinishing it. In the first picture you can see how bad it looked when I pulled it off the boat. The second image is after spending some time hand sanding with some 150 grit paper. I then gave it the first coat of varnish followed up with more sanding with 220 grit paper. Then I gave it two more coats of varnish and it started looking pretty good. I've since done two passes with 400 grit paper with two coats of varnish in between each round of sanding. The results of which you can see in the last picture. At this point I think I'm finally satisfied with it. I'm going to give it one or two more coats of varnish tonight and then let it sit for a few days to properly dry before re-installing it on the boat. But being as this is my first project of I suspect many with this boat I wanted to share how it went. I'll post another picture once I get it re-installed on the boat.

[Citroen/Dave]

Beautiful job! Mine too refinished with that herringbone pattern underneath.

[RedBaron]

Beautiful job! Mine too refinished with that herringbone pattern underneath.

Thanks, I'm really happy with how it's turned out. It's amazing how a little sanding and a little varnish can make the wood grain really pop. And this is the only piece of wood on the outside of the boat so I really wanted to make it stand out.