Water Based Varnish

[LONG_KEELER]

I have managed to take most of my interior joinery home to varnish this winter.

I am now left to varnish the interior of the boat in situ.

Water based varnish might be a way to go because of quick drying and low odour in the cold weather.

Blakes Seatech seems to be the main contender but I have no experience of the kind of finish achievable.


Would be most grateful for any thoughts.

 

[bendyone]

I used some from B&Q on the outside lasted as well as any. Advantage was the quick drying on a warm day you can get 2 or 3 coats on.

 

[LittleShip]

I have managed to take most of my interior joinery home to varnish this winter.

I am now left to varnish the interior of the boat in situ.

Water based varnish might be a way to go because of quick drying and low odour in the cold weather.

Blakes Seatech seems to be the main contender but I have no experience of the kind of finish achievable.


Would be most grateful for any thoughts.

The inside of Litlle Ship is Burgess Hydrosol (to stain) and Topgloss been on over 5 years now and is easy to patch if somebody does scratch it.

Tom

 

[Malish]

Blakes water based works fine for me, another plus being the ease of cleaning the brushes with water and a little Daz

 

[Avocet]

A goodly number of years ago (7-10?) I did Avocet's saloon floor boards with Ronseal's water-based floor varnish. They have lasted FAR better than any oil-based varnish! A couple of years ago, a leaky cockpit drain hose meant that I came out to the boat to find them actually FLOATING. They went slightly milky to look at but I took them out and left them to dry, whereupon they returned to their previous clear colour.

 

[Humblebee]

Others seem to like it but I'm not convinced. There are advantages, the quick drying time means a lot of coats can be put on in a short time and washing brushes in water is handy too. I also find it gathers less dust when drying, presumably because it dries much faster. On the down side, I find the outside of my brushes become quickly coated with dry varnish since it dries on the brush as I am putting it on, and it never seems to flow and level as well as oil based varnish. Result is brushmarks in the final finish. The stuff I used a few years back (Ronseal, I think) has lost some of its gloss more quickly than oil varnish I put on at the same time. My preference is still for a traditional oil based varnish unless I am in a big hurry.
PS - Little Ship looks lovely - nice work!

 

[daveyw]

I used an acrylic varnish designed for boats and general outside stuff on my cockpit floor. Not impressed though. Any damp weather and they went milky colour. After some time in the sun the cleared again but that wasn't the point.