TOPIC: foredeck refinish 1959 MFG 15'

I am refinishing the deck on my 1959 MFG 15' foredeck - after sanding , there is (perhaps) a 1/32" gap between a few of the deck boards - others have no gap . Do I refinish over these gaps and let the varnish coat act as the "bond" between these deck boards or is there a step that I am missing ? Thanks for any help .....

They should not have gaps. What you are seeing is that the wood has most likely shrunk sue to drying out. What is the humidity of the room in where your boat is being worked on? When I was refinishing my Resorter over last Winter, I constantly was watering down the floor and using a humidifier in my shop. It is critical when refinishing to keep the humidity levels higher. I never store my wood boats in heated buildings unless I am working on them. They dry out, shrink and the planks open up. Then you break the varnish "seal" and water will wick into those places and create rot spores and cause your exisiting varnished bond to open up. 1/32" of an inch is not that much, so you maybe able to fill that with varnish. I just wanted to help explain how this works in the wood boat world...

the boat had been stored in a shed for 10yrs with the bow sticking out in the weather / fortunately , some one had "slathered" what I believe was shelac over much of the wood , and chrome / it looked terrible but basically protected everything / tghe boat is really int pretty good shape ,and I do not believe that there is any need to replace any of the deck - the boat is in my warehouse , no need for heat in the summer , and its kept at about 60 in the winter - / - there are 2-3 planks that have a 1/32" of a gap , is that some thing that will typically fill with the varnish , sand and varnish process ? I plan to do several coats ...... thanks 72hornet - much appreciated

You do not want to store a wooden boat or a fiberlass one with wooden decks in heated space. Unless you have a very good humidification system.

Best place for storing wooden boats is in an unheated shed with dirt floors. Gravel floors are second best. Concrete is the least preferred floor.

Andreas