sun lotion over varnish

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by jimbunyard

Yeah, it's called 'paint'...

Works for us.

Extensive timber rails on the upper and lower decks on ours were badly flaking when we bought her.
Machine sand with 60 grit and rolled on two coats of self priming acrylic paint tinted to a similar colour as the timber.
Took about 4 hours and $100 vs several weeks and $$$

4 years on and it still looks OK.
I have repainted a section as a test, simply scrubbed the paint with water and a scourer, let it dry and rolled on another coat, 2 mths in and no signs of adhesion issues.

[jen1722terry]

Not sure we agree with sunbrella causing dust abrasion. Our old Cape Dory 31 came with old sumbrella covers for all teak save for the toe/rub rails. We love 'em, as we tend to be abjectly lazy when it comes to varnish. The covers may be 25 years old, and the varnish underneath looks fine.

We were going to sew up some new covers at our Nova Scotia home this spring but, obviously, the virus border closing has put the kabosh on that plan. So here we sit in our little northern New Hampshire condo, dreaming about our boat, which is in Blue Hill, Maine (14 day quarantine) and wishing we had our big sewing machine to do the canvas.

We're willing to rent a small place to quarantine in Maine, but we're not sure what life aboard will look like at our marina in Northeast Harbor if we do launch and get our regular mooring in the harbor.

Anyhow, we digress from the thread. Health and happy sailing to all of you.

[s/v michaela]

Originally Posted by jen1722terry

Not sure we agree with sunbrella causing dust abrasion. Our old Cape Dory 31 came with old sumbrella covers for all teak save for the toe/rub rails. We love 'em, as we tend to be abjectly lazy when it comes to varnish. The covers may be 25 years old, and the varnish underneath looks fine.

We were going to sew up some new covers at our Nova Scotia home this spring but, obviously, the virus border closing has put the kabosh on that plan. So here we sit in our little northern New Hampshire condo, dreaming about our boat, which is in Blue Hill, Maine (14 day quarantine) and wishing we had our big sewing machine to do the canvas.

We're willing to rent a small place to quarantine in Maine, but we're not sure what life aboard will look like at our marina in Northeast Harbor if we do launch and get our regular mooring in the harbor.

Anyhow, we digress from the thread. Health and happy sailing to all of you.

We live in Mexico,,, where everything is subject to dust and wind.. and sun! Big difference in locations!

[billgewater]

It is possible that the assumption that the break down of the timber cellular structure is largely dependent on UV is, simply, incorrect. Skin cancers are not the same process as cellulose breakdown in timber so what works on one may not have any effect on the other.
To stop breakdown of timber it would seem that you need to remove all or most of the environmental conditions found in forests. Fungal spores, water, temperature variations, abrasion and probably the entire light spectrum.
I suspect that varnishes have a short lifetime is because although the varnish may stop water and fungal ingress, it just can't stop light. After all, that is why you use a varnish to allow the grain pattern to be visible. When you look at varnish that is breaking down you will see that it has micro cracks which are possibly caused by either a breakdown of the varnish itself or fracturing of the cellulose cells which in turn damages the varnish from underneath allowing water etc. in. The greyish surface on exposed timbers is probably the surface cells rupturing. The Sunbrella option seems to be the best.

[David B]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Exterior teak, which I have a LOT of I have decided is like mowing grass. I gave up on mine and one day may have it painted or just let it go and have it done before I sell the boat.

Perhaps you are referring to brightwork, but for decks, grabrails etc, we get very good results with Semco. One quick re-coat a year is all it takes. On a 50' mono, that equates to 3-4 man-hours a year for us.