Varnish vs Epoxy

[SSgtPitt]

I hate to send this out, but I gotta ask. I've made a couple of boat accents to replace the plastic stuff. I painstakingly applied multiple layers of varnish with an HVLP cup gun in my garage and they look beautiful. But then I read all the posts about clear epoxy on wood and I'm wondering if I'm wasting my time. If epoxy is so f'g great, why do we waste days and days doing varnish?
I know absolutely nothing about epoxy but need to start a high level indoctrination. Maybe i should practice on a few disposable items in the garage.

[SSgtPitt]

I hit the "Post" button to soon. Why would i do varnish if epoxy is great?

[chris95040]

Its not really a one or the other thing.

Epoxy doesnt have uv protection and must be followed up with something that does, like paint or varnish or polyurethane.

It controversial, like everything, but some folks have great results (longevity) using epoxy to immobilize the substrate and something on top as uv protection, like a 2 part poly or 1 part poly, or a varnish.

Best to completely encapsulate the wood with the epoxy, if water can get in anywhere it'll end up causing the epoxy to start to separate from the wood and will be somewhat harder than trafitional varnish to repair.