Exterior varnish

[Cousin Jack]

What's the current thinking on a long lasting, good looking varnish for exterior woodwork?? Epiphans has been my previous choice.

 

[PhillM]

+1 for Eppifanes

 

[Talulah]

I use Epifanes. This winter I had covers made to the exterior wood so the need to varnish would be less frequent.

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

Mines in Epifanes... very pleased with results.....

 

[Kibo]

I use Ephifanes on my mason 33, which is based in South Spain with lots of sun and dangerous UV. So far so good.

 

[LittleSister]

What's the current thinking on a long lasting, good looking varnish for exterior woodwork??

It would be a great idea!

 

[rosewood]

On my wooden boat used every varnish made over the last 15 years. Best i have used is Tonkinoise

 

[westernman]

On my wooden boat used every varnish made over the last 15 years. Best i have used is Tonkinoise

+1

Tokinois makes cack handed amateur varnishers like me look good.

 

[Chris_robb_ndota]

I have spoken to die-hard fans of Epifanes, International, and Decks Olje (Others are available). None of them will tolerate the others "inferior" varnishes.

Everyone has their favorites, and most are fit-for-purpose. I've used the three above, no complaints as far as expectations are concerned Deciding whether to go for poly-urethane can make a difference and while harder may not be better for -slap on a coat per season- type applications.

IMHO of course. Stand to be corrected.

Chris

 

[Poignard]

+1 for Le Tonkinois

 

[Zagato]

International Woodskin - google it, used to be under another name, no bubbles, easy to apply.......

 

[Nicholas123]

International Woodskin - google it, used to be under another name, no bubbles, easy to apply.......

17 quid a tin & you have to continually apply coats,is that really any different to applying regular coats of say oil seed rape oil?

I have this problem & though I do want my wood to look nice on the outside I have found in the past that varnish only lasts a couple of years if you are lucky & requires continual maintenance......there must be a better solution.

 

[bert49uk]

i have been very happy and get great results from Screwfix Yacht varnish

 

[Nicholas123]

i have been very happy and get great results from Screwfix Yacht varnish

How long does it last?

 

[bert49uk]

How long does it last?

as long as anyother (more expensive) varnish, two to three years

 

[Nicholas123]

as long as anyother (more expensive) varnish, two to three years

They flog small tins of what is described as yacht varnish in our local Pakistani cheap shop here for a quid.Way to go

 

[KAM]

Been varnishing boats for 25 years. I have used various trad varnishes including very cheap ones from discount stores and noticed very little difference in performance. The thinner ones tend to give a better finish but it is very temperature dependent. I would avoid 2 packs as they are difficult to use and very difficult to patch and although very hard don't seem to last any longer than traditional varnish. In recent years I have used simple covers over the winter. Frost seems to be a bigger enemy than UV in the north. I cover the cockpit with a tarp and the handrails with lengths of plastic gutter. This seems to more than double the life from around 3 to 6 years before doing a full re strip.

 

[PCUK]

Blakes (Now Hempels) Dura-Gloss.

 

[Rossynant]

As for polyurethanes - best result I had with simple parquet varnish - single pack, not major brand (so not known in UK). It just had a resin mainly, no cheap additives to make profit Lasted twice more than major brand special marine two-pack so and so (no reason to say the name, they all are just the same).
Nonsence to use polyurethanes on wood - does no good to the wood, and varnish fails because wood gets wet underneath, no fault of varnish itself.
Simple good oil varnish is best.

 

[Dave99]

Yep go for about 8-9 coats ideally