TOPIC:

Hi all,



Recently bought K6811, a JD Young woodie, and have been refinishing it (as its all varnish). Stripped and varnished the decks in the autumn and winter, now doing the hull.




Just wanted to discuss with others who may have re-varnished or stripped their hulls - how many coats are recommended in your experience, and how much varnish might I expect to go through on the hull?



As you may have gathered, I am doing up a budget proposal for the better half...



Cheers,

John

Hi John,



On the www.cvrda.org/ website at the bottom there is a guide to varnishing it is great.



I have recently stripped my centreboard case and then used 3 coats of Blakes woodseal. I then sanded and varnished with blakes seatech varnish (1 pack water based) it comes up great, even if you follow the same process on wet n dryed old varnish.



You may however choose to epoxy you hull first with 2 or 3 coates. Thoroughly wet and drying after the last coat. If however you use 2 pack varnish you may not want to epoxy.



I'm sure other's will add there own experiences as i have only painted hulls.



Remember 70% of the job is preperation 30% varnishing!



Phil MrGin2008-04-01 11:38:11

Hi Phil,



Thanks for the link and prompt reply!



I have recently read about Seatech. I like the fact it apparently dries quickly allowing plenty of re-coats in a short time. Would you say that was your experience?



John

Hi John,



I varnished on easter saturday, not be warmest of days and got 2 coats on with 6 hrs in between. I think you could probably get 3 in a day. I used a varnish roller and a decent hariss brush and a foam pad to float over the top. looks good. You can then clean your brushes with warm soppy water!



Phil

by all means Epoxy the hull first because epoxy will stiffen the hull which is what you need. then you will need to varnish because varnish will protect your hull against the bleaching effects of UV light. I chose to paint my hull but if I was varnishing I would use about 7 coats of varnish over 2 coats of epoxy.



I did varnish all my decks and inside the boat and for that I didn't epoxy - I went to Epiphanes 2 pot varnish for the first 6 coats then I floated International 1 pot Schooner over the top for ease of maintenance and the high gloss finish.



Read the guide on CVRDA...I found it to be very useul.



When using 2 pot you should wear a mask that will filter out Isocyanates..... something like a Vitrex mask with charcoal filters.