Le Tonkinois in Baddeck
22 Aug 2026
We’re having a fine Saturday on the hook at Baddeck, sunny and 10 knots of breeze across the lake. Rina got in a good long night’s sleep and felt especially energetic upon waking – it’s a Le Tonk day! She’s been working for months on the teak cap rails along Roadrunner’s port, transom, and starboard bulwarks and the Le Tonkinois is the final step in the process: apply the oil-varnish to the teak. Starboard has seven coats, port side there was just enough time to get two and a half coats before we departed Atlantic Yacht Basin (the half coat comes from a strenuous sanding of coat three to smooth the varnish to achieve a smoother surface).
Le Tonk application in progress - bucket as a table, a small amount of the varnish in a cup, with a soft badger style china bristle brush.
Le Tonkinois was completely foreign to us until Michael (he restores wooden boats, the latest one is Trade Wind, his 1938 Alden 62 – stunning wood everywhere) stopped by to ask if we had considered Le Tonk, as that’s what he used and so did most of Europe on their wooden boats. We were hooked and off to the races it has been. You can’t buy the stuff locally, Michael keeps a supply on his boat and gave us an unopened 1-liter tin – it comes in a metal tin box with a press-fit circular lid. We promptly special-ordered two 1-liter tins of the stuff from the American importer from Europe, and a month later we received a large box containing two 2-1/2 liter tins. Apparently there was a mixup with the order and we have lots!
Now that we have perfect varnishing weather on the lake, Rina pulled out her brushes and got a round of Le Tonk on the port cap rail, bringing that one up to four and a half coats. We just need to be careful to not touch the wet varnish when we hop in the dinghy for the short ride to town this afternoon.
This is Le Tonkinois Marine no. 1 varnish, it has a good amount of UV protection and takes on a nice shine after it fills in the wood grain. That's town and the and the local anchor-outs in the background.
The dinghy run in to the Co-Op grocery store was fun, a short walk from the public dinghy dock at the wharf and all was good. We brought our wheelie-dolly cart to return with goodies and elected to move the dinghy around to the private dinghy dock at Baddeck Marine for the boat return – the cart was heavy and nice to not roll it out and around a fenced in property to get back to the public wharf.
Boats that overwinter on Bras d'Or Lake will haul out at Baddeck Marine before it freezes. I was told the boats are moved on a trailer to a large unheated building two miles away, and there they spend the winter.
Weather forecasts are calling for rain for much of the next two days as a Low or two form and move east – as a result we’re planning to remain here at anchor. This should work unless the water becomes too choppy on the lake, at which point we’ll have to shift off to a more protected spot, of which there are lots. As of tonight four more sailboats have joined us in the anchorage, the latest one arriving early evening and flying the Swiss flag – a bit of an international group.
The dinghy is up for the evening, the lift went well and we didn’t touch the new varnish. Roadrunner is tucked in for the evening, hopefully it’s a good night all.
- rob & rina