Patrick Parrillon 33, owner of Annapolis Yacht Refinishing, is a native of the Caribbean island of Dominica and grew up working with his grandfather, who had a woodshop. Just a teen-ager when he arrived in Annapolis in 1983 as first mate on a Swan 57 delivery from the islands, he now has permanent residency status and is well respected for his talent and his humor.
In late March, Parrillon conducted a “Varnishing Made Easy” seminar at Fawcett Boat Supplies in Annapolis, charming his students with his friendly, easy-going wit and island style. “Now let me start out by saying this,” he told them in his lilting West Indian accent. “Every day above ground is a good day.”
I visited him periodically at the Yacht Haven Yacht Yard during a 14-week project refinishing the all-teak interior of a 1984, shrink-wrapped Passport 42 sloop. The job began in December and was set to end in mid-April. “I like refinishing interiors in the winter and exteriors in the summer, when I prefer working outside,” he says. “I’m strictly a varnish man, nothing else. I believe in perfect sanding, perfect color, perfect finish. When I rock, I rock.” Lean and muscular, Parrillon occasionally listens to dance-hall reggae by Shabba Ranks on a compact disc. “No drinking, no smoking, no wife, no children, just reggae and varnishing,” he says, laughing. |
Some of the extensive teak had to be stripped, but the rest he meticulously hand-sands, including getting into all the many grooves. “I don’t like to strip with a heat gun because I fear burning the wood,” he explains. He strips with Kwik remover and seals with two coats of Interlux 1026 sealer-sanding (with 220-grit), vacuuming, tacking and wiping down with acetone between every coat. All the brass hardware has been removed from doors, cabinets and tables and also refinished and laid out in a covered tray. To match the teak stain, he uses Minwax Helmsman varnish stain and will finish with three coats of Rivale satin varnish, taking time in between for all the intermediary steps. |
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“You can rush in varnishing, but not in preparations. This interior will be perfect when I finish,” he says. “Of course, the job was made more difficult because of some earlier refinisher who messed it up. If you can’t do something the right way, don’t do it the wrong way.”
The teak and holly floorboards will be sanded and refinished with three coats of sealer, eight coats of Epifanes gloss and two coats of Rivale gloss. “When I finish this interior and all the polished brass hardware is back in place, you must come back and see it with your own eyes to believe it,” he says. He is not humble, but very proud of his work – for which he charges $30 an hour, excluding the cost of materials.
Parrillon will use Jen poly-foam brushes to lay on the final high-gloss Rivale on some interior trim. He gets rid of any hiding air bubbles in the beveled foam end by blowing lightly on the tip. He keeps the ends of his Epifanes china-bristle brushes stored in clean turpentine in a bucket tilted at an angle and spins them clean and dry with a hand-operated brush spinner before and after use. “Move fast, one swipe forward, one back and don’t look back, that’s it,” Parrillon says. |
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