Varnish Alternatives?

[lw395]

Suggest you have a look at the long running tests on wood finishes published in both PBO and Classic Boat. Woodstains in general outlast all other finishes with minimal maintenance. 5 years is typical before a light recoat.

Woodstains mostly look horrible from day one.
Perhaps OK for a rough old workboat.
If you don't want to be varnishing, either you live with your boat looking rough, or you get a boat with very little external woodwork.

 

[Sarnia]

Teak I would leave untreated or perhaps lightly oiled.

I am not sure if that is appropriate for oak.

For a varnish like finish but requiring less maintenance Sikkens Cetol Marine was the best I found. That has been replaced by International Woodskin.
+1, therefore, to Tranona's suggestion.
.

Would agree with the use of Sikkens Cetol Marine, I use it on my teak toe rails, every two years i lightly rub it down with a kitchen sponge scrubber and re-coat it, even with two coats a couple of hours and its done, and that is in the Med in high UV environment.

 

[Tranona]

Woodstains mostly look horrible from day one.
Perhaps OK for a rough old workboat.
If you don't want to be varnishing, either you live with your boat looking rough, or you get a boat with very little external woodwork.

Tinted ones may not have a gloss, but Woodskin does. I have used Sikkens Nova for 15 years and prepared to live with the sheen going muddy finish in return for ease of application and minimum maintenance. Even more important when you have a lot of wood to protect and keep looking reasonable. A boat is not meant to be a piece of highly polished furniture - at least on the outside.

 

[KristiferColumbus]

Suggest you have a look at the long running tests on wood finishes published in both PBO and Classic Boat. Woodstains in general outlast all other finishes with minimal maintenance. 5 years is typical before a light recoat.

I do remember reading those tests the last time this type of argument flared up & there was no real analysis of the long term maintenance scenario.It was all a bit superficial & 'at the time' application I thought consistent with the usual marketing exercise.
I have used that wood stain stuff myself (not the stuff you keep banging on about) & nowhere do you get to hear about the appalling blistering & trouble you have trying to get a good finish in order to apply more of the stuff.
Rubbish that has no place on a boat! At least in my humble opinion

 

[Tranona]

I do remember reading those tests the last time this type of argument flared up & there was no real analysis of the long term maintenance scenario.It was all a bit superficial & 'at the time' application I thought consistent with the usual marketing exercise.
I have used that wood stain stuff myself (not the stuff you keep banging on about) & nowhere do you get to hear about the appalling blistering & trouble you have trying to get a good finish in order to apply more of the stuff.
Rubbish that has no place on a boat! At least in my humble opinion

Don't know what you have been reading, but Richard Hare's long term tests which are reported in both PBO and Classic boat are now approaching 10 years with very detailed reports on 5 year cycles. Clearly not all products in the tests are still on the market and new ones come on which have less years of experience, but the overall trends are very clear. Woodstains such as Sikken, Cetol and the newer Woodskin way outperform conventional varnishes on all fronts - ease of application, cost, ease of maintenance and durability, but not gloss, although Woodskin is better in this respect than others. The only coatings that are better on durability are the flexible polyurethanes such as Coelan, but these in general are very expensive and difficult to apply.

 

[Little Rascal]

Thanks for the responses.

Woodskin or Cetol sound like the sort of thing I'm after.

A couple more questions though:

Does Wood skin have a tint at all? I'd like it if the tone was reasonably similar to my varnished tiller (which has faired much better.)

How easy is it to apply? I'm hoping to do it in situ and apply it to the awkward bits under the hatch rail edges.

 

[Spi D]

"Rystix Exterior Sealer is a unique hybrid between a penetrating oil and a film building product " makes me think of Jotun Benar. Look tempting - anybody tried it?

I use a Jotun product for window woodwork at home. After 17(!) years decided to give it a recoat, not that it needed it much..

 

[rogerthebodger]

"Rystix Exterior Sealer is a unique hybrid between a penetrating oil and a film building product " makes me think of Jotun Benar. Look tempting - anybody tried it?

.

Yes I use Rystix Timbacare all the time both at home and on the boat in a very high UV area.

My garden benches have been out is the Johannesburg sun for at least 4 years now without and sun damage.

See earlier post of mine

 

[Spi D]

Yes, I did notice that you use Rystix. My question was about Benar

We enjoy less UV but get several months of rain/snow/frezze instead. Rystix might be good, Jotun (from Norway) is more at home up here and expectedly is available in more places.

 

[Zagato]

International Woodskin for me on the masts and Starbright Tropical Teak Oil (natural) on the rubbing strakes etc (it doesn't go black, patchy or need sanding/scraping off eventually - one coat a year should do the job.

 

[Zagato]

Thanks for the responses.

Does Wood skin have a tint at all?
How easy is it to apply?

Very slightly golden/tan, difficult to describe, but it is spot on and lovely stuff to use, smells great also!

pictures in this thread

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?384886-The-Definitive-Answer-For-Teak-IrokoTreatments!