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Varnish. AAAGH!

4K views 29 replies 19 participants last post by  cdavidscee@msn.com 
#1 ·
Before we found this boat we had a big list of likes and dislikes. I absolutely said NO PILOTHOUSE and NOTHING WITH LOTS OF WOOD. Well, we found this boat at about 1/3rd to 1/5th of market value and guess what? It's a pilothouse with 2 1/2 acres of wood to care for.
Varnish, sanded & oiled, Cetol, or bare wood?
Dock Lord swears that Cetol is absolutely the only way to go and he will fight to the death to defend it. He's the Holy Roller of the marina.
The Marina Expert will go on and on about how "REAL CRUISERS" only sand their teak and leave it bare. He should lead a teak care Sunday School to indoctrinate them when they're young.
Greybeard Dock Emperor #3 insists that if you leave it bare or even just oiled your teak will split and crack and probably spontaneously fly right off of the boat without any warning. Fire and Brimstone Preacherman.
Bellyman is a devout clear shiny varnisharian. Any deviation will land you in purgatory or hell, no exceptions. A kind and reasonable pastoral Varnish Prophet.
The Snake Charmer. A Loving wooden boat owner who has won boat shows swears by Epifanes Clear Wood Gloss. She prosletyzes daily in a Bay Area Chandlery for your convenience.
I have meditated long and hard. I fasted. I crawled on my knees for several miles to the chandlery seeking enlightenment. I prostrated myself before the exotic wood lumberyard.
I've determined that pride in the face of Teak is my path. I will varnish. VARNISH with the shiniest, clearest, most luminescent product that I can find.
 
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#2 ·
Oh half way enlighten one, you have started your journey to teak Nirvana by admitting your desired to varnish. But you must first lay down a firm foundation of penetrating epoxy, two coats, no more and no less followed by 6 coats, not 5, not 4, but 6 full coats of Epifanes varnish. Only then will the path to varnish Nirvana be revealed. And gawkers and admirers shall flock to your dock to ohh and ahh over your shine. And woo be to any of them that drools on your bright work.
 
#6 ·
two words:
foam brushes.
two more words:
foam rollers.

You can roll and tip varnish like paint, and the key to a durable brightwork finish is to apply at least 8 coats with the first few coats thnned in decreasing ratios and the thinned coats sanded with 220 grit to break the shine between coats, then you can hot coat the last few coats. call it a week, with a day to prep, with a coat a day for coats 1-4 and two coats a day for coats 4-8. I have tried epifanes, bristol finish, le tonk, and all varieties of cetol (the naugahyde of brightwork finishes) and i have had the best results with a cheap locally produced spar varnish sold through a chain of hardware stores up here.
 
#7 ·
Once upon a time I too had a varnish fetish. All those wasted beautiful clear PNW days wasted varnishing my life away. An old timer once stopped by one day and remarked, "you'll get over that BS once you hit the tropics". A few years later sitting in the Galapagos I watched the varnish peel off before my very eyes. After the 3000 miles to the Marquesas more and more varnish disappeared......Once In New Zealand I heat gunned off that crap with extreme prejudice. Now a local mfg outdoor house stain works wonders. I love varnish, especially if it's on somebody else's boat.

SWW914 sorry I'm not there to buy you a taco and beer and maybe hit you upside the head with that varnish brush, don't do it man! Set sail soon or you'll be a varnish slave!
 
#8 ·
I'm using the shiny Epifanes that's designed for teak with foam brushes. I did first coat on the drop boards today as recommended by Epifanes just to see how things will look and they're beautiful.
I have a LOT of experience painting cars and this stuff is really easy compared to, say, a $20,000.00 paint job on a valuable old Porsche, for instance.
 
#10 ·
You have not only drank the KoolAid, you made some more.

Do you realize that varnish was invented by the God of Torture - Hinckley? And that Epifanes was his sorcerer? You will descend into varnish hell and will be blinded by its (reflected) light.

:laugher:laugher:laugher
 
#19 ·
Since I got my boat (this past Apr), I've been working on redoing all the exterior teak. The old stuff was chipping off and bad condition. It looked like it was painted rather than varnish. Then, from what I had read about Cetol, I assumed that was used before. Looking through old maintenace logs, I saw that it was Cetol. I didn't like how it looked, even though this was pretty old finish that was being removed.

Now, I'm going with Epifanes and started working on some of it. Looks good so far. If you're going this route, get LOTS of foam brushes. I'm new myself to the varnish world but it does seem to be working out well so far.

Good luck.
 
#20 ·
I've used a paper towel, lint free, to apply the varnish. I wear gloves, saturate the towel with the varnish then slowly pull the towel over the teak. No brush strokes and no clean up. I do use painters tape.
 
#23 ·
flybynight would be my hero (what an incredible mirror shine!) except, there is silver metal in his wood and that's always a bad thing. A real yachtsmen wouldn't suffer form cheap fasteners, he'd pull them before they blacken the wood, and replace them with proper bronze fittings.

Hey, sww! You know that a half hour with a chain saw, any chain saw, will solve the varnish and pilothouse problems both at once, don't you? (VBG)

Bottom line, who is going to walk the dog? Who is really going to wind up doing the maintenance, or not? That's all. Whoever is going to walk it, has to feed it and clean up after it too. So if you're going to maintain the wood, you decide the finish it gets. If someone else is going to do it, they decide. No bargaining, no negotiation.

I go for bare wood and teak oil, because I love that mirror finish but I don't get enough to spend the hours it needs to be one that way. Over and over again. There's this stuff they make now, maybe you've heard of it? Called "plastic". Has the same mirror finish and requires much less maintenance, too. ;-)
 
#24 ·
We have tried everything to reduce cycle time with our varnish every fancy new product, nothing lasts as long as

Captain's Varnish by Pettit.

6-8 coats, dry each coat overnight -
 
#30 ·
I don't want to have to worry that I will scratch the dam varnish everytime I anchor, drop a drop board, drop a ? I found a recipe for old school wood preservative and protectent. I't 60% linseed oil,30% melted bee's wax and 10% pine tar. Yes it will darken wood, but I am not out for looks I want cheap easy and durable. I have been on so many (nubie) cruising boats that try to look like Yacht Club boats at the dock, afraid someone will scratch something or get something dirty. I have forty eight Y.O. teak that if you drag an anchor chain over it just polishes it! To each their own. Get out here cruising and you'll soon focus on the important stuff like sea worthiness and having fun.

Ships are safe in harbor, but that's not what their built for
 
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