First time owner of wooden boat - varnishing

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m1taylor

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Hi, As a first time owner of a wooden boat, there is a bewildering choice of varnishes out there, all with there own claims. For those bits of my boat which have peeling varnish, does anyone have any recommendations for a varnish which can be applied both to bear old wood, and over sound varnish inside the boat? I would rather pay more and have something that will last a season in the sun without breaking up. My boat is now undercover - but I would need to do the work over the winter, so a varnish which doesn't require summer warmth to be applied would be best as well. I have noticed there's a strange named one called 'Le Tonkinois' for old boats - is that any good?
 
This is of course the permanently open can of worms...

You'll hear a lot of us say that Epifanes is the best varnish, it will do your internal and external work, be very careful of cold and damp if you want to do it this time of year, in my opinion its best left until spring unless you have some bare wood to protect.

A Bahco Sandvik scraper has change the lives of most wooden boat owners!

I do one coat on bare wood 50/50 thinners, then straight coats out of the tin, minimum of 6, top up with two more in spring and two late summer, lighlty sanded first.

I have not used Le Tonkinois, I know some rate it.

You'll hear a great deal of support for Coelans although I have not done that yet...
 
worms - \"straightout of the tin\"

oh dear, you shd pour out a bit into another container, like the sawn off bottom of an evian bottle and keep the varnish tin shut as muchas possibl. Otherwise the cack pickd uup on the brush goes back in the tin...
 
You need to buy THE BOOK

There is an absolutely definitive "Bible" on surface preparation, varnishes, varnishing, etc. It is called "Brightwork" by Rebecca Wittman, published by McGraw-Hill, ISBN no 0071579818.

This is one of the best books about boat maintenance ever written -dare I say, one of the best boating books ever written.

I consult my copy regularly!
 
Re: You need to buy THE BOOK

I have used Epifanes Satin for the interior and it is fantastic stuff, giving an oiled wood finish with hardly a trace of brushstrokes. As for the brightwork, as I have a new cockpit I have used two-pack International perfection. Its tricky to apply (and you do need warm weather) - but when done its really does come up a treat. I used International GoldSpar on the mast and found this to take an age to dry and made gluppy runs that needed sanding off - I should have used Epifanes there too!

PS. By the way Epifanes is a Dutch product I believe; I bought my interior tin in Holland for 12 Euro!
 
Having plugged THE BOOK...

I like Epifanes' original type, which I use on the spars and below deck; the satin one is also good below deck. They also do excellent conventional alkyd paints. They have brought out some other types of varnish that I wot not of, lately.

The other varnish that I use is International Crystal for Teak, a highly expensive high-tech 2 pot polyurethane, for the cabin table, galley surfaces and anywhere else likely to have a boiling kettle, etc. suddenly put down on it. Very high gloss and high build, lasts well in this situation.

I have gone over to Coelan for deck bright work; this has increased my sailing time considerably, although doing it was a lot of work.
 
Re: Having plugged THE BOOK...

Confusingly I think International Crystal has changed its name to Perfection . I also think it has a different two-part ratio so its best not to mix old Crystal with new Perfection.
 
Re: Having plugged THE BOOK...

Rebecca has just published a follow up book called The Brightwork Companion. Not read it yet but presumably an update on her original of 1990.
 
Epifanes and coelans are the products I use, epifanes new type for rapid build up, no sanding between coats, ten coats, then allow to harden, flat and finish with the old type high gloss. I also use satin/matt, thinned with real turpentine and a little bit of owatrol added for the floooooow, but not in the satin/matt, works for me. Coelans is excellent on masts and spars and on toerails/bulwarks etc.
 
I use a ProPrep scraper and a heat gun to strip old varnish. As a result, I stay away from poly varnishes. Remember, if you're planning on keeping your boat, any varnish you put on the outside you will eventually have to take back off. When you hit plastic varnish with a heat gun you get, not suprisingly, melted plastic. A terrible mess all over. Epiphanes seems to build quicker and gets a lot of good press, but it doesn't last a whole lot better or worse than the others. Having said that, I am also using their rapid build stuff now.
 
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