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Maintaining name boards

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Richard Nye

1/30/2025 12:59 PM

The teak name boards (port and starboard boards above the pilot house) take a lot of sun, and are difficult to maintain. What do you all do?

This is what mine look like after putting about 8 coats of Total Boat Gleam varnish on 3 years ago. I'm beginning to think the "distressed look" is more and more appealing.

Mark Tilden

1/30/2025 1:17 PM

Hi Richard:

Yep...those name boards are beautiful, but they are a 1/2-time maintenance job all by themselves. After many years of fighting with trying to keep them looking good, and even trying to make canvas covers for them, I gave up. I saw several different approaches to making composite name boards, but the one we settled on uses 3/4" thick white acrylic plastic with the same running light "pockets" at the aft end of each board and the boat name applied with the tape--like most boats have on the stern. We like them and they are virtually maintenance free. Others have used brushed-finish stainless steel.

By the way, one minor (but important) thing to be aware of. Jet Tern used to (maybe they still do?) paint the "light pocket" where the running lights sat the same color as the lights (i.e. red on the port side, green on the starboard side). A picky surveyor or inspector will tell you that's not a good idea because the colors *could* distort the very precise angles that the lights are supposed to be visible through. As you know, the running lights are supposed to be visible through 135 degrees (45 degrees aft of directly abeam). That angle could get widened by reflections of the light off of painted backgrounds.

So.....in our case, we lined the white acrylic with the same black tape material that the names are made from so that the lights are against a black background.

I tried to find some photos of mine, but couldn't put my hands on them right away. If you want to see some, I'll either try to find them or take a couple new ones.

Mark

JOHN ZIMMERMAN

1/30/2025 1:57 PM

I just had my name boards stripped and varnished ($750) at Baja Naval. The one suggestion I offer is to use Cetol varnish. This is a perfect application for Cetol as the boards don't come in contact with things hitting them. Cetol dries with almost a rubber feel, but once knicked it needs to be repaired. It would not be good to use cetol on say a table or caprail. My previous boat's name board could go a year in Mexico and still look good.

John Zimmerman 5359

Felix, in Ensenada getting major boat spa treatment

Sent from AOL on Android

Corey Chamness

1/30/2025 3:03 PM

Our name boards had zero done with them for 15 years and they looked quite distressed. Last winter I removed them and a really, really good friend stripped them down to bare wood, sanded them and put about 10-15 coats of Awlwood primer and gloss on them - mostly sprayed. Hopefully I will have 15 more years. Ours does not have any red or green coloration behind the lights (of which I replaced one with an expensive OEM lens since they are NLA).

My recommendation is everyone find a really awesome friend like I did and have them refinish them for you :-)

Corey
Leizu

Mike Sudul

1/30/2025 3:43 PM

After 14 years ours were not economically repairable. Our solution is in the attached picture.

Cheers
Mike Sudul

Two’s Out 4547
Cell (250) 896-9588
Hm (250) 656-8745

Steve Kent

1/30/2025 3:59 PM

Having just done this job (8 brushed coats of Epiphanes)I also had covers made as no clear finish (that will adhere to wood) stands up to UV for very long.

I had clear “pockets” put in these covers and painted the underlying area green and red as paint will last much longer UV - wise) through the clear section, than varnish.

Actually thinking about stenciling the boat name on the covers, so there is even less reason to remove them except for special occasions!

Steve Kent
No Factor 47-05

Richard Nye

1/31/2025 9:10 AM

There are some good suggestions. Based on the variety of answers there doesn't appear to be any one really great solution. I forgot to mention that I also have some custom covers made for my name boards, and use them when I'm at a dock for any length of time. But mostly we're moving frequently and I don't bother to cover them under those circumstances.

I may have them painted a honey color to match the varnished cap rails. The paint should last may years, look nice, and be a good substrate for the boat name decal.

I read a Practical Sailor article about varnishes. In all cases the 2 part coatings lasted longer than one part varnishes. But practically they all needed fresh coats annually.

I hadn't considered John's Cetol suggestion. I'll investigate that also.

Thanks for the recommendations so far. I'll eventually circle back with pictures of the end result.

Richard Nye

Untethered 57-22

Lucky Chucky

1/31/2025 2:22 PM

Richard, we just redid our signboards after 5 years in central america. We took it down to the wood, had new vinyl ship names fabricated and attached, then sprayed 12 coats of 2-part varnish to get a piano grade finish. Looks fab and we're happy

Doug Keiler

1/31/2025 2:31 PM

Richard

I made mine. After shaping the name boards, I applied 4 coats of clear epoxy. I then applied the vinyl name decal and put another four coats of clear epoxy over the decal. I them blocked the epoxy and applied four coats of varnish.

My thought was I could either sand or strip the varnish and reapply without the risk of damage to the decal.

It’s lasted two years and the varnish still looks good (I do keep it covered when we’re not on the boat.

Doug Keiler

Calypso

59-019

Richard Nye

1/31/2025 4:12 PM

Thanks Doug, and everyone else. I have a small company in the Ft. Pierce area that is refinishing the cockpit table for me. They do excellent work.

This is what they said, "We normally don't do epoxy on name boards because the epoxy will turn yellow in full sun overtime. We typically build up with traditional varnish, so the wood can expand and contract and then apply six coats of Awlcraft 2000 clear."

It ain't cheap. $1800 for both boards.

They also paint a lot of them white. I will discuss it with them, but I think I want to paint it with a amber colored paint.

Doug, if you're still in Ft. Pierce, we should get together.

Richard
Untethered, 57-22

Ken Finnegan

1/31/2025 4:37 PM

On Blue Phoenix, I had new boards made in Teak & had them primed & painted Flag Blue with AwlCraft 2000 to match the hull.

I then applied the name & logo. They look like new after 3 years, which is nice, as it allows me additional time to maintain the clear AwlWood finish on the Cap rails!

Doug Keiler

2/1/2025 10:07 AM

Richard

We crossed to West End on Weds. Our plan is to spend some time in the Abacos, then Eluthera followed by the Exumas. Hope we cross paths.

Doug

Calypso

59-19

Mark Tilden

2/1/2025 11:13 AM

Doug:

Is there MarineTraffic coverage down there? Can you guys see each other on MarineTraffic?

Mark

Doug Keiler

2/1/2025 1:15 PM

Mark,

Just checked Marine Traffic. Without paying for satellite coverage, I was surprised to see the boats in West End. Guess there is a repeater station here.

Doug

Joseph Crowley

2/2/2025 8:52 PM

Hi Doug,

I saw your message that you are in the Abaco’s. We are in Marsh Harbor until mid-March and would love to cross paths with another Selene owner.

Joe Crowley

Coffee Break

59-023

John Shramek

2/3/2025 10:15 AM

I was wondering after hearing that there will be a lot of boats in the Bahamas if the map tool will be reinstated? On the old site it was a great feature to see where in the world the Selene's are.

We are also in the Bahamas (near New Providence) and will be heading to the Abaco's around 2/14. Hope to see some fellow Selene boaters then.

John

Seeker

56-115

Mark Tilden

2/3/2025 11:18 AM

Hi John:

You asked about the map tool. I'm going to shift this to a separate thread, as this one was about maintaining name boards.....

Mark

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