Hi group,
I've just finished building a little 14' Runabout. The deck is Meranti ply
and the toerails and coamings are Mahogany. My question is about finishing
the deck. I've read and heard advice on two different ways of doing this and
I'm asking your guidance and/or opinions. Should I first coat the deck with
Epoxy and then Varnish or should I omit the Epoxy altogether? The craft will
be kept under a roof 98% of the time and weather exposure should not be a
serious concern. I know epoxy gets a chalky look to it with heavy UV
exposure and I'm thinking that if it ever gets like that, I'll have a hell
of a time getting it off. On the other hand, I really like the way epoxy
seals out water/moisture. I'd really like to hear your thoughts on this.
Thanks,
Charles E.
"SPARKY" 14' Electric Runabout

"Ervin Charles" wrote...
I've read and heard advice on two different ways of doing this and
I'm asking your guidance and/or opinions. Should I first coat the deck with
Epoxy and then Varnish or should I omit the Epoxy altogether? The craft will
be kept under a roof 98% of the time and weather exposure should not be a
serious concern. I know epoxy gets a chalky look to it with heavy UV
exposure and I'm thinking that if it ever gets like that, I'll have a hell
of a time getting it off.

If under a roof and several coats of varnish, the epoxy will be protected from
UV and will not likely turn chalky in your lifetime.

I'm not an expert by any means, but have a home-built kayak that is finished
with Z-Spar Flagship varnish over System 3 epoxy, and an Adirondack Guideboat
with decks finished with Z-Spar Captain varnish over System 3. The kayak is 4
years old, the guideboat new last fall.

Epoxy makes a wonderful base for the varnish, as well as protecting the wood --
System 3's Epoxy Book verifies this opinion. Over the bare wood (cherry) on the
guideboat, I used 2 coats of epoxy followed by 4 coats of varnish. The epoxy
base gives you a deeper-looking gloss (IMO) than if you used another 2 coats of
varnish for the base, and gives a bit more durability to the surface.

On the kayak, which has a layer of 6 oz glass over okume, I merely refresh the
varnish with 2 coats every spring.

I've had good luck with UV varnish over epoxy.
You want to avoid getting water to the wood with epoxy,
then coat with UV varnish to protect the epoxy from UV damage
which usually causes the chocky appearance and brittleness.
The varnish is easily dressed to effect repairs in appearance.


"Ervin Charles" wrote in message
...
Hi group,
I've just finished building a little 14' Runabout. The deck is Meranti
ply
and the toerails and coamings are Mahogany. My question is about finishing
the deck. I've read and heard advice on two different ways of doing this
and
I'm asking your guidance and/or opinions. Should I first coat the deck
with
Epoxy and then Varnish or should I omit the Epoxy altogether? The craft
will
be kept under a roof 98% of the time and weather exposure should not be a
serious concern. I know epoxy gets a chalky look to it with heavy UV
exposure and I'm thinking that if it ever gets like that, I'll have a hell
of a time getting it off. On the other hand, I really like the way epoxy
seals out water/moisture. I'd really like to hear your thoughts on this.
Thanks,
Charles E.
"SPARKY" 14' Electric Runabout

hi ervin
epoxy sounds good to me
when the boats not in use a cover will do but it will take a lot of sun to
spoil epoxy
vern


"Ervin Charles" wrote in message
...
Hi group,
I've just finished building a little 14' Runabout. The deck is Meranti
ply
and the toerails and coamings are Mahogany. My question is about finishing
the deck. I've read and heard advice on two different ways of doing this
and
I'm asking your guidance and/or opinions. Should I first coat the deck
with
Epoxy and then Varnish or should I omit the Epoxy altogether? The craft
will
be kept under a roof 98% of the time and weather exposure should not be a
serious concern. I know epoxy gets a chalky look to it with heavy UV
exposure and I'm thinking that if it ever gets like that, I'll have a hell
of a time getting it off. On the other hand, I really like the way epoxy
seals out water/moisture. I'd really like to hear your thoughts on this.
Thanks,
Charles E.
"SPARKY" 14' Electric Runabout

On Mon, 1 Mar 2004 06:36:52 -0000, "vern"
wrote:

hi ervin
epoxy sounds good to me
when the boats not in use a cover will do but it will take a lot of sun to
spoil epoxy
vern

Never could understand the reasoning behind using epoxy as a "primer"
coat. Horrible to fair. If any repairs did to be made, the patched
area will be a different color from the older rest of the boat.
Unless, of course, you want to strip all the epoxy off and start
again.

If you use all varnish, you have to strip the panel contigous with the
repair. If there is a color difference, this could be ameliorated with
dye or stain.

Some people just love goo, I guess.

I went the goo route on a mahogany threshhold for my front door.
I took a perfectly good piece of beautiful honduras mahogany,
then laid a layer of 6 ounce glass and epoxy and nine coats of
Captains Spar varnish. The next year I had yellow spots where
the epoxy started to degrade from UV (this is a west exposure for
the threshhold, in Seattle). I took it out, stripped off the epoxy
and glass, and then laid nine coats of varnish on it. It's been
good for about 8 years. I normally lay on an additional coat
every year but I did neglect for four years in a row before I
thought I was pushing my luck, so I laid on two layers of varnish
last year.

My thoughts with the glass and epoxy was to keep the threshhold
from getting scuffed from traffic, but most people don't want to step
on it because is looks like a piece of furniture. I have kids now so
we'll see how it does with them.

Matt

"P.C. Ford" wrote in message
...

Never could understand the reasoning behind using epoxy as a "primer"
coat. Horrible to fair. If any repairs did to be made, the patched
area will be a different color from the older rest of the boat.
Unless, of course, you want to strip all the epoxy off and start
again.

If you use all varnish, you have to strip the panel contigous with the
repair. If there is a color difference, this could be ameliorated with
dye or stain.

Some people just love goo, I guess.