Spar Varnish

[Huey]

Its time to re varnish the bright work on my boat. (and there is alot of bright work)I have always used marine products ordered from catalogs but wonder how an off the shelf spar varnish from Lowe’s or Home Depot would do? I am not sure that it has enough UV protection. Any advice would be nice.

Thanks
Huey

[JimD]

For example, Behr rates its top varnish right on the can label as 45 sunblock, I think, but I don't know how that stacks up against 'real' marine varnishes.

[Ken Hutchins]

Most of the Lowe's stores have Valspa paints, and should be able to order the Valspa MARINE Spar Varnish, this is an old company and I've always had good results their varnish. Note the emphasis on MARINE, they have a spar varnish not labled as marine, not quite as good. Of course if you ask them the right way sorta like "Why don't you guys stock the Marine Spar Varnish, you really should?" maybe you can get them to stock it then you won't have to pay shipping of your order. :D

[ 03-25-2005, 02:09 PM: Message edited by: Ken Hutchins ]

[Jay Greer]

The former owner of the Behr Paint Co. is a personal friend. So I know a bit about their products, which sadly, are banned in some states. Behr Varnish is real spar varnish that is still made of natural resins and oils and cooked in large copper kettles. I personaly have seen Behr Varnish last as long as four years on my own mast before it showed signs of needing a couple of fresh up coats. I might add that the base consisted of ten coats of Behr.

[paul oman]

My local walmart and Home depot don't carry real varnish - only can get it at Ace hardware stores under their own private label. I am setting up a test board to compare it with the fake poly varnishes now sold when applied over epoxy...

paul oman
progressive epoxy polymers