Wood Sealer Recommendations

[Stemar]

Jazzcat has a grid between the hulls aft. It used to have a stainless steel frame supporting sapele slats, but the frame is damaged, so I'm replacing it with beams made from what I believe to be Brazilian mahogany salvaged from a replaced front door frame. What treatment would you give the whole thing? I'm thinking of treating the individual pieces before assembly as it'll just be screwed together, not glued, and will get rained on, but have little exposure to seawater.

Burgess Hydrosol comes up often - a couple of coats a few minutes apart. Sounds great, but is it too good to be true?

 

[Boathook]

I filled in the gap on my 9m using iroko for the beams and plywood for the deck. The beams still ok after 25 years but on my 2nd set of plywood !

 

[Stemar]

That's why I used sapele slats. I'm not as young as I used to be and I expect them to see me out. I reckon I'd need to replace ply around the time when I no longer want to be doing that sort of thing!

For anyone else with a similar project, I used these: Sapele Bench Slats with a Roundover Profile, which were way cheaper than any other source I found.

 

[Tranona]

Jazzcat has a grid between the hulls aft. It used to have a stainless steel frame supporting sapele slats, but the frame is damaged, so I'm replacing it with beams made from what I believe to be Brazilian mahogany salvaged from a replaced front door frame. What treatment would you give the whole thing? I'm thinking of treating the individual pieces before assembly as it'll just be screwed together, not glued, and will get rained on, but have little exposure to seawater.

Burgess Hydrosol comes up often - a couple of coats a few minutes apart. Sounds great, but is it too good to be true?

Exterior varnish or stain of your choice. I would use Woodskin but if I had a longer time horizon would invest the greater effort and cost in the full Sikkens HLS and Cetol 2 part finish that I used on the barge boards of my house and the mast of my old Eventide. Woodskin probably 5 years or so with one freshen up on the horizontal surfaces and double that at least with Cetol.

 

[Refueler]

Burgess gets my vote .... it binds with the wood rather than creating a skin coating.

For just treating or staining before varnishing - to prevent mould etc - I use Decking Stain ... the range of 'shades' to match wood type is extensive.

 

[Stemar]

Varnish is forbidden on my boat, at least on the exterior. I just want something to protect the wood and keep the water off. Looks like Burgess it is. I don't mind slopping on a couple of coats every few years, but I really don't want to be sanding down varnish and redoing it every year or two.

 

[PCUK]

Burgess Woodsealer. Used it for years.

 

[RunAgroundHard]

I now only use Smiths Clear Penetrating Epoxy Sealer. It is an excellent product and works very well, giving a great finish to paint or varnish on, and seals wood.

I left some in a jar and when dry remains flexible, which I guess is how it deals with expansion and contraction.

Details below, I bought it from them.

Make Wood Good - Protect Preserve and Restore

I have used it on cockpit lids, floors, knees and at home on bathroom renovations. I would recommend it.

All the best.

 

[Refueler]

Varnish is forbidden on my boat, at least on the exterior. I just want something to protect the wood and keep the water off. Looks like Burgess it is. I don't mind slopping on a couple of coats every few years, but I really don't want to be sanding down varnish and redoing it every year or two.

Absolutely .. and most wood outside needs to be matt so hand holds / footsure etc.

 

[Refueler]

Absolutely .. and most wood outside needs to be matt so hand holds / footsure etc.

I like all the water based wood treatments ... easy to apply .. quick sand and coat again ...

 

[Tranona]

Varnish is forbidden on my boat, at least on the exterior. I just want something to protect the wood and keep the water off. Looks like Burgess it is. I don't mind slopping on a couple of coats every few years, but I really don't want to be sanding down varnish and redoing it every year or two.

Re read post#4. No mention of sanding down and redoing every year or 2. Some of the barge boards on my house are original from around 1985 and have never been touched. Admittedly on the north side so limited exposure to sun and UV. The Sikkens I used on my wooden mast used to go 5 years then one new coat and still mostly intact after 10 years sitting unused in an outside mast rack.

What I suggested are NOT varnishes but tinted woodstains made for exposed conditions on buildings. Very different from products made for the boating industry.

 

[thinwater]

Even Hydrosol describes it as a "one a year treatment." Whoopee.
Burgess Marine Hydrosol Woodsealer Treatment | Engraved Benches

Penetrating epoxy + paint or varnish. I like Total Boat, but I suspect they are all similar.

Penetrating epoxy is ~ 5 times weaker than regular epoxy, but it penetrates instead of lying on top. Also very slow cure, figure 2 days.

 

[Refueler]

Even Hydrosol describes it as a "one a year treatment." Whoopee.
Burgess Marine Hydrosol Woodsealer Treatment | Engraved Benches

Penetrating epoxy + paint or varnish. I like Total Boat, but I suspect they are all similar.

Penetrating epoxy is ~ 5 times weaker than regular epoxy, but it penetrates instead of lying on top. Also very slow cure, figure 2 days.

If you want an epoxy that can take some rough handling ... Laminating Epoxy ..... but it does not soak in fully of course.

 

[thinwater]

If you want an epoxy that can take some rough handling ... Laminating Epoxy ..... but it does not soak in fully of course.

That is the trade-off.

Slow cure and very slow cure laminating epoxies are also pretty good penetrating epoxies, because they have much longer to soak in before gelling. Fast cure epoxy, as a wood sealer, can be prone to pealing if water gets behind it, because it is just on the surface. The slow cure versions are full strength but don't soak in quite as far, though the first coat often absorbs fully.