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| Interior "as bought" |
With the temperature being very low (around 0°c), we were unable to do anything involving paint, sealant, varnish or glue. Their minimum application temperatures to dry/cure properly is between 5° and 10°c, depending on the product, so we spent this time working on other aspects of the restoration. One such job was to prepare the interior wood for varnish. The Viking is equipped with oak veneered interior fittings: bed bases, chest of drawers, wardrobe, toilet door, kitchen unit, cupboard, lockers and upstands around the open shelves. Oak tends to darken over time with exposure to sunlight, and after 50 years, ours was no exception. Add in the results of half a century of use, plus all the mess we created by sanding the exterior, and our interior had plenty of room for improvement.
Oh joy, more sanding! Sanding with 80 grit paper removes the original varnish and the tarnished layer of wood, leaving clean, fresh oak which is much lighter in colour. It has come up a treat! Followed by more sanding with 120 grit paper for a really smooth finish, ready for coating with clear, gloss yacht varnish. Care is required though, as the veneer is extremely thin, less than 1mm, so we could easily go through to the plywood base. Lou kindly volunteered to carry out this work, and she used her faithful random orbital sander for the larger areas, but had to resort to sanding by hand on the narrower parts, edges and the fragile shelf upstands.
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| Before sanding |
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| After sanding |
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| Mid way through sanding top of chest of drawers. |
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| Wardrobe door before sanding |
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| Wardrobe door after sanding |
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| "Staining" with tea |
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| Sanding drawer front |
Our wardrobe and toilet doors were marked. Sanding did not remove these marks so we tried staining them. It is difficult to find a stain that matches perfectly because wood is a natural product and therefore infinitely variable in shade, so we used tea. It still does not match but at least it tones down the difference.
Meanwhile, I set about the four wooden bump strips from the lower sides of the Viking. When these were removed, I thought they were rotten, so I expected to have to remake all of them, but having inspected them more thoroughly, only one was rotten. The other three just needed sanding to remove paint, varnish and a discoloured surface, leaving them looking as good as new. The fourth was recreated from a teak post given to us by the same friend who donated the oak. It will need staining to match the original colour, and then all four will receive a couple of coats of yacht varnish before refitting.
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| Blank piece cut from teak post, then planed into shape. |
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| Old rotten strip and new one. |
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| Full set of four strips. |
Next on the list was to cover the shelf under the front windows. Previously mentioned in a post from last summer, the shelf had been patch repaired and we were going to cover it with a "skin" from a spare toilet door from another Viking. The door is constructed from a slender frame with thin plywood glued to each side, and then covered in oak veneer. The ply was removed from the frame and a paper template used to mark the shape of the shelf. I deliberately cut the wood slightly too large so it could be gradually sanded to size. It's only 3mm ply so does not take a great deal of sanding to make it right. The toilet door was not long enough to cover the whole of the shelf, but neither was the original veneer! There were diagonal joins visible at the corners. The new cover has been placed centrally, and separate pieces cut for the extremities.
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| Shelf cover glued on, awaiting varnish. |
The cover was glued using Titebond III. It is a wordwork PVA glue that doesn't set too quick so the parts can be moved around before clamping. It is supposed to set in 30 minutes but leaving it clamped for longer is better. It cleans up with water before it sets but after, it is waterproof. I haven't used this glue before so time will tell if it is any good, but initial results bode well. (Edit. Two years later at the beginning of 2021, the glue is still holding.)
After sanding and cleaning up, Lou painted the ceiling. The interior was masked with dust sheets to protect it from paint spatters, and two coats of Dulux Trade vinyl silk in white was applied.
By March, Lou had sanded all the interior wood and then she varnished it all too. What a difference! So much better now, with a reflection, than the dull, flat finish before. Lou had hoped the lighter shade of oak would remain, but unfortunately, even clear varnish makes it appear darker.
After sanding and cleaning up, Lou painted the ceiling. The interior was masked with dust sheets to protect it from paint spatters, and two coats of Dulux Trade vinyl silk in white was applied. 
