AQUACOTE application

The answer is, I was fearful of sanding through the top veneer of the plywood deck. The poor old deck I felt had suffered enough under my hand when removing the original old two-pak. To go through the veneer, at this stage, would be a mistake of catastrophic proportions, so I was erring on the side of of not creating a catastrophe for myself.
Fully understandible
One question - Should I give the deck another 3 coats of Aquacote, when the blue / grey goes and before the final two coats?
The instructions suggest that the final two coats be watered down by 50% and applied with a damp wad in a circular motion, similar to French Polishing. So I guess the final two coats don't provide much depth.



French polish ... Now it takes a dedicated wood finisher to even know what it is. Love it. I have given it to much of my interior furniture.

Often many coats are recumend knowing that much will be sanded away. Your coats have been thinner than the published expected norm. A few additional would not be bad.

Over night I had a few ideas.
Could you be leaving hard water spots on surface? Would lickly have a definitive edge.
Any possibility of soap residue?

One of the issues I face is the difficulty of completely removing all traces of wetsanding.
Is there a change in the surface texture were the haze appears? Sanding residue may cause lumps or bumps that can be felt on dry surface.

If you shake the can of Aquacot, is the foam the same color as the haze?

Having a picture would help diagnose vs guess.

Thanks for the kind comments

 

Hello Paul
7.00 am. I have just taken the boat out for its daily sun-bake, although the part of the yard I can get too is presently in shadow.

My father was an amateur carpenter / cabinet maker in his spare time and I saw him french polish the odd desk or a chair he had made on many occaissons.

The blue grey haze is more like a very thin cloud, I can see some definitive edges in places but this is where I have sanded an epoxy run, but not 100% which has left a very fine edge, you can see the smoky smear in the lee of the edge, these edges are the faintest of edges but are there because of fear of sanding through to the veneer. I am thinking that I will try a little more careful, careful, careful sanding in these areas to lessen this impact.

I don't believe the discoloration is from water spotting, I always wipe the deck down.

I guess it could be soap residue, I washed the boat down with a scotchbrite and a full bucket of water with a couple of squirts of dish-washing detergent in it, less than 10% of the bucket was needed to wash the deck and I then rinsed liberally with a fresh bucket of water and a brand new wipe cloth to avoid contamination, I don't think I left soap residue, but never before have I been involved with an application requiring such a high level of non contamination.

Is there a change in the surface texture were the haze appears? Sanding residue may cause lumps or bumps that can be felt on dry surface.
I don't think so, the surface is not glass like, it is an old deck, but it is pretty smoothe, it could be smoother if I were braver!
The deck originally had two-pak from, I am guessing 30 - 40 years ago, the previous owner, allways covered the boat with a custom made cover and allways garaged the boat, I was told that the boat had not seen sunlight in 25 years when I purchased it, so it was a bit of a time warp. The deck was in really good condition, I would have kept the original two-pak it was so good, but for two long but thin cracks where the veneers joined in the deck, it was really a shame to have to remove all the two-pak but in my experience with boats the discolouration caused by the sun will stand out like a saw thumb if you just try a local repair?

In getting the two-pak off I had to use a heat gun and scraper, and it took me a week to do the 1.5 sq metres. I then sanded the deck with varying grades of sandpaper. One problem I encountered, or at least this is what I believe, when the original coating was applied the initial sealing coat was absorbed into the ply veneer unevenly. I believe some of this original sealer is still in the deck. Had the deck been solid timber this would not have been a problem, it could have just been sanded out, but dealing with a thin veneer, makes it difficult to know when to stop sanding, and this in itself has left some slight discoloration in the deck but more of a yellowish hue. This adds to the overall effect with the smoke like blue grey haze.

If you shake the can of Aquacot, is the foam the same color as the haze?
I shook the bottle and looked inside at the bubbles, all pretty small and no colour change noted, just the milky white, and pouring a little into a clear container, the same no discoloration noticed.

It also seems to me that the Aquacote just does not have the crystal clarity of a varnish or a two-pak?

I have attached a picture, didn't know I could do this? You live and learn.

 

Looks incredible. I hope I look that good in 25 years. She looks to be quite the ride once put back together.

Didn't think it was surface contamination. Just wanted to rule it out. Every thing I see is consistent with water reabsorbtion. If you keep the due off, sunshine should cure things in a week or two.
Your craftsmanship is awesome. Keep up the good work.

If you shake the can of Aquacot, is the foam the same color as the haze?
I shook the bottle and looked inside at the bubbles, all pretty small and no colour change noted, just the milky white
If the haze and milky in can are same color, then proof positive

It also seems to me that the Aquacote just does not have the crystal clarity of a varnish or a two-pak? No. Milky in the can and milky on wood

You live and learn.
Words to live by. Even if you learn that new isn't always better

 

Thank you Paul, you have given me hope.
I was despairing yesterday after some gentle sanding to remove the last remnant of a run, I only seemed to make matters worse, where I sanded seemed blotchier than ever? I guess what is happening is that my sanding is reducing the thickness of the Aquacoat surface and as a consequence the thinner the Aquacoat surface the clearer you see the timber underneath. Having varying thicknesses in the Aquacoat surface has exacerbated my problem. Aquacoat not being a crystal clear product.
While the underlying ply deck is still pretty good, and the top veneer 99% intact, I feel that I will really be stuck with what I end up with, I can only hope the sun does its job and a couple more coats of Aquacoat evens out the blotchiness that I have created, even if only a little.
While I am far from being a perfectionist, I find I can't tollerate second rate workmanship, especially when its mine.
Thank you again, I can't say enough how valuable I have found your imput and advice.