
All Aboard That’s Fauxing Aboard!
(100-Foot Yacht Project)
As seen in Faux Effects World XXII
I was approached by cabinet maker and finisher extraordinaire Randy Baker, who asked if I could help him on an interesting project. His firm was asked to strip and re-stain the wood work on a 100-foot yacht docked at the Naples Yacht Club on the Southwest coast of Florida. Areas throughout the interior of the boat, which are mahogany, were becoming cloudy and milky. They tried every stripping material and method available but could not seem to break the barrier of the finish. Randy asked me if it would be possible to basecoat and woodgrain the clouded mahogany to look exactly like the existing mahogany. I knew this was in my bag of tricks and was very excited for the challenge. We visited the project and went right to work making samples and planning our strategy. Randy Baker and his team would handle the prep work, including base coating and top coating, and Spiegel’s Decorative Finishing Studio would handle the three-layer graining process. These were tight quarters and a difficult working environment, considering we had to spray the work in order to obtain that high-end manufacturer mahogany glass-like boat finish.
All systems went according to plan. Randy Baker’s team did a superb job. This was their first time using Faux Effects coatings. It did not take them long to get comfortable with the products and admired how amazing these products were! These “good ole boys” were all used to spraying lacquers and conversion varnishes. They set up a Jet HEPA air filtration system and a dehumidifier that sucked in the overspray and blew out clean air. Faux Effects Camel SetCoat was wet sanded to a beautiful satin, furniture grade finish. Many people do not realize how wonderful SetCoat wet sands out. My team and I started taping out all the panels and proceeded with the flogging process. Next, we laid in the main graining figures followed by a third toning layer to adjust the color to a perfect match with all the existing wood.
Once all the graining in the dining room area was completed, Randy Baker and his team came in and applied the Faux Effects topcoats–ColorSeal followed by three coats of Satin Varnish Plus. It’s a nice experience working on the yacht–the fresh smell of the salt air, the water, the company of the dolphins and the sound of the waves make for a very nice day to faux the world a little more beautiful.
We never saw the owner of the yacht during the whole process, but its crew was first-class all the way. They helped out with anything we could possibly want and more. We cleaned up and packed up our drop cloth, and a few days later, they were off to sea. We finally got word back that the owner loved the job. He wanted us to complete different sections of the yacht, planned on when it was back in Naples Harbor. In fact, we are back on the yacht at the writing of this article.
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