Mention ‘Brightwork’ around a bunch of salty sailors and you will invariably get a variety of different expressions and responses. Most of which usually will be a look of terror! Followed by bodies scattering away from you, much like would happen when your mother would ask the household for volunteers to do the dinner dishes! But occasionally you will run across some that, when mentioned, will get that glint in their eye as if it brightwork were a type of some long lost treasure.

For those of you, mainly landlubbers, that are unfamiliar with the term ‘Brightwork’, this refers to the exterior woodwork on a boat that is varnished. When we purchased Bruadair, we were a bit apprehensive, because of the excessive amount of brightwork that there was on the boat. And by the way, Bruadair has ‘acres’ of brightwork on her! Comparatively. We tried not to let this scare us though. But due to the amount of brightwork that there was, we spent a considerable amount of time visiting many other web sites of cruisers that were already ‘out there’, and we had read from them, that the majority of those have chosen to let their wood ‘silver’ and not do anything to it at all. That is, except for the occasional salt water wash down that the decks usually require. That’s fine and dandy for some, but not for us! Already the decks on Bruadair had gone silver, and we just couldn’t see letting the rest of the exterior wood do the same. In the mean time we were also reading, and joining in many a discussion on the Hans Christian web site, about different alternatives that could be taken with brightwork. So after lengthy debates among ourselves, which by the way were usually done standing on deck, staring at the seemingly endless amount of brightwork that lay before us, we had come to the conclusion that the last thing that we wanted to do while being in ‘paradise’, was to hang from the life lines off the side of the boat… varnishing! Our solution to this dilemma came to us after seeing pictures of a boat for sale, the ‘Mary Hamilton’, on the Hans Christian web site. We had opted to do the same as she, and provide the woodwork with an application of a product called ‘Semco’. So for the first few supposedly ‘leisurely’ weekends onboard Bruadair, we didn’t relax. We ended up arming ourselves with sanders and sandpaper in hand, and occupied a majority of our time sanding off most of the varnish. We did decide to keep some of the brightwork on the boat, and that was in the cockpit. We figured that with the addition of a dodger and bimini, of which we were going to add later, we would be able to maintain this amount of brightwork easily. With the cockpit being partially shaded, hopefully this would help it last that much longer.  So the sanding went rather smoothly. Fortunately for us, the previous owners had only put a couple of coats on. Once the sanding was completed, we then decided to give the decks a good cleaning with a teak cleaner and brightener as well. This worked out great because the now there wasn’t a speck of silver to be seen anywhere! We then began the process of applying the semco to everything that had been cleaned and sanded. The semco went on like a dream! And it was so simple, quick, and easy to use. We easily got three coats on in a matter of a half a day. It looked as though the wood was freshly sanded. And it stayed that way all of the time! It also gave the wood the quality of being oiled, and at the same time, didn’t detract from the integrity of the wood. (This was important to us because we had also decided to use the semco on all the decks as well). By including the decks, we felt that we had given Bruadair a well deserved face lift! She looked ten years younger!

So, after a little more than two years, we did nothing to the brightwork. And it showed! It was so bad that we couldn’t even call it brightwork any more! It was both dull and dingy work, with the occasional chip and flakey work. The cockpit was embarrassing to say the least! So a month before we were to leave Kemah, since we were so busy trying to get last minute odd and end projects done before our departure, we hired Annie Yeager to come to our boat and varnish our cockpit doors and the sliding hatch for us as well. Our doors looked absolutely awful, they were without a doubt the worst part of the cockpit, and if anybody could make them look better, it was Annie. She has the reputation of being probably the best varnisher in the Kemah area. She has been varnishing our friends, Dan and Jamie’s’ boat, Nereia, for the last eleven years. (Which I might add, looks absolutely awesome over a year later since the last application! They usually had her out once a year to refresh the brightwork whether is needed it or not.) We were always in awe of the way that the brightwork looked on their boat. It was as if glass had been laid upon all the wood. So we felt honored to have Annie work her magic on at least a small portion of our boat.

I had never had the opportunity to do any type of varnish work before, so sitting in the cockpit with Annie was a real treat. I had had curiosities of how to do varnish and now had an expert to answer all my questions! I also got to probe into her wealth of knowledge and managed to obtain several ‘tricks of the trade’, that I probably would have never been able to obtain otherwise. I was truly amazed at the whole process. I had always been under the impression that with varnish you had to always be so precise, not to mention being extremely meticulous, and that wasn’t the case at all! Sure she was careful and still taped off areas and tried not to drip on places that were not to be varnished, but all in all, it’s like she just slapped it on! I was truly amazed! She even brought just a small amount of varnish; all that she thought that she would need at the time, in a soup can! She said that the only time that you really need to be particular with varnish, is when you are applying the final coat. She even demonstrated this to me, by sticking a thumb print in one area! She said that it really didn’t matter because these were the building layers and you sand between each one anyway. So if you should have a flaw, don’t fret! My whole previous notion and concept of varnishing was shattered and blown out of the water! In fact, it actually looked fun to do! So while Annie worked I began looking around at the cockpit and asking questions like, ‘how would you do?’ and ‘what to do about this?’ Thankfully Annie was very free with her answers. (I don’t know if it was because she knew that we were leaving town soon or the fact that she was just a sweetheart about her trade. I tend to think it’s the latter of the two.) The entire process took about two and one half weeks to finish, because she was doing several jobs at once, but so well worth the wait! Our cockpit doors were beautiful! Now the only problem was, once we got the doors up, they made the rest of the cockpit look like…well for lack of a better term…CRAP! I thanked Annie and cursed her in the same breath, because I knew that this predicament was going to bother me until I could get it fixed!

Armed with my new found knowledge about varnishing, we left Kemah bound for St. Petersburg, Florida. It took us a little more than a month to get there, so I had many a watch, were I was consumed with the thought of varnishing. I knew that I had to do the cockpit, that was a given now that we had these beautiful doors! But as we made our way through the ICW, (inter coastal waterway), I couldn’t help but look around and wonder…what about the rest of the boat? Not only had we not kept up with the cockpit varnishing but we had let the semco go to pot as well. We were so overwhelmed with other projects that needed to be completed before we left; cosmetic work fell to the bottom of the list. I hadn’t spoken to Damon about my quandary of possibly doing the entire boat, I figured that I would wait until we got to Florida and that way I could talk with Dan first.

It was several weeks after arriving in Florida, that Dan and I actually got to seriously talk about varnishing. We were actually standing in front of his boat looking and I might add admiring, Annie’s work. Dan was pondering and considering flying Annie out to do their boat since it had been well over a year since she had last refreshed it. They had a few minor chips and scrapes that he wanted repaired. That’s when he looked at me and asked if I thought that we could do it ourselves. “Why not!” I said. The worst that could happen, they would fly Annie out to fix it. So off to West Marine we went to obtain the needed supplies. I decided that I would practice my hand at varnishing by doing our boards that fit over the sink, and to also do the board that I had gotten that fit over the stove. Our experiments went well! We were ultimately pleased and amazed with what we had accomplished. The repairs that were done on Nereia blended in falsely; we were extremely impressed with ourselves. So well in fact, that it was at this time I told Damon of my change of mind and heart, asked what he thought of me deciding to varnish the entire boat. I was told that would be fine, but to just be aware this would be entirely my venture and that he would have nothing to do with it! I was tickled pink that I was given the ‘blessing’ and told Dan when we got the Rio Dulce; I had a project lined up!

So a month and a half after arriving to the Rio Dulce, I hired two of the workers here to do the initial sanding of Bruadair. Sure I could have sanded it myself, but two people are much quicker that one! It took the pair four days to get the toe rail, eye brow and the cockpit sanded. Also included were the outer wood panels on each side of the boat. July 1, 2005 I began adding varnish to Bruadair. Everything began smoothly until I finished my first quart of Schooner 96 and went to obtain another. To my horror my second can was only one half full! I began searching for the other cans and soon realized that we had not bought them! It was on the list that we had decided to wait on getting before departing St. Petersburg and we had left without completing it! So we began searching the different stores and inquiring with other boats here in the Rio Dulce to see if there was any Schooner 96 available. There was none to be found, although you could order it, but not without a hefty price that is! We found a place on the internet where I could get a gallon for $65. But the shipping alone was going to be $288!! I was devastated! I asked the resident woodworker expert here if he would know of any place to get some Schooner. To my despair he said ‘no’, but that there was a Guatemalan varnish called ‘Color-In’ that he felt was compatible and just as good as Schooner was. I was a bit reluctant to get it, since I already had four coats of schooner on the boat, and really didn’t want to sand it off and start over. I had read in my book ‘Brightwork, the art of finishing wood’ by Rebecca J. Wittman who is a great authority on varnishing that you should never mix varnishes. (If you don’t already have it, this is a must have for your boating book collection.) Frank had assured me that I wouldn’t have any problem with it. Frank was previously in life, a professional varnisher for museums. So that goes to show you, just because one person or authority tells you do something one way, it doesn’t always mean that’s the only way to do it! So Damon and I set off to the store and bought a quart of this Guatemalan varnish. The result was outstanding! I couldn’t be happier! I just pretended that I had started with Color-In and carried on as usual. Everything that had been sanded has now been varnish. But due to the ‘rainy season’ setting in, all that I want to do has been cut short until the season is over. I have gotten 12 coats on successfully but I have a goal of somewhere between 14 to 18. Then all that is left to do is the hand rails, our new deck box, and the brightwork that is usually covered with canvas. Although my work is no where near the quality as that of Annie, I am still pleased with the outcome. Bruadair is now becoming the ‘belle of the ball’ here at Mario’s marina. Many compliments have been given to her newly varnished brightwork, and that can’t help but give me a ‘warm fuzzy feeling’. And as I had thought while watching Annie those many months ago, it was fun! I even found it to be relaxing, and at times it also put me into a ‘Zen’ feeling as well. More importantly, you know how you feel when you getting ready to go out on the town and you’re all dressed up and you know that you look good? I think that Bruadair feels just as good if not better now that she too is all dressed up, and if I do say so myself, looking pretty darn good!

Copyright 2004, 2005, 2006 S/V Bruadair. No reproduction without written consent.