varnish ???

[John Carbone]

i am ready to varnish the deck of my 1955 16' lyman. I removed the old varnish and sanded it.It is made of phillipine mohagany veneered marine plywood. should i apply west marine 105/207 epoxy before applying varnish ? and what kind of varnish should i use ?

thanks guys

john

[Wild Wassa]

What type of varnish? ... quality marine varnish. There are oil poly blend marine varnishes and more traditional marine varnishes. You might select more than one type depending on where you are varnishing.

If there has only been varnish on the boat, I'd be inclined to stay just with the varnish. If you really want an epoxy sealant try CPES, also known as Multiprime. I’ve watched CPES draw oil to the surface, when I thought that there was no oil. So sand off those patches and keep Multipriming.

There are many possibilities as to what can happen if you epoxy over oil impregnated timber. You can have success or a patchy success, or like most around my neck of the woods very little success. If you are epoxying over timber that has a bit of oil remaining in it, as you will not be able to totally remove the oil and there are varying degrees of dryness of oil, it will create a lot more work to lay the epoxy over the oil and be confident in knowing that you have formed a true seal with the epoxy, that will give you a normal epoxy life, longevity. I've been examining a few boats lately as I've been testing various varnishes, I've given you the worst scenario which is the most common scenario.

Stick with varnish.

Warren.

[ 08-08-2004, 12:29 PM: Message edited by: Wild Wassa ]

[R Joynt]

I agree with Warren. I am at about the same place with my 16-1/5 Lyman. I put four coats of traditional sealer on it and am in the process of putting on the varnish; '96' Schooner, if I remember right. It looks great!

Bob

[gaffman]

I agree with the last writer as to the use of Schooner 96, made by interlux...with one reservation. Interlux also makes Schooner 95 which is a little easier to apply. Then finish with the last coat or two of Schooner 96 only because it has a slightly harder finish than Schooner 95. Start the job with 4 coats of Interlux 1026 primer (2 coats per day for the sealer).