A good inexpensive varnish

[CF32907]

Originally Posted by sailorchic34

I'm not a huge fan of varnishing. So much so, that I painted my cap rails, my cockpit covings, and lazarette hatches. All are wood on my old boat. I use to use epifanes varnish. Which is a really good varnish. It's also a really expensive varnish.

Being a frugal and rather poor sailor I was always looking for alternates. There's a lot of bad varnish out there.

But two years ago, I got a can of varnish from the ace hardware store, that has turned out to be just as good as epiphanes. Best of all from my Frugal standpoint, it was only $16 a quart. That varnish was McCluskey Marine spar varnish, number 6539 Gloss.

2 years ago I stripped my three main hatches back down to bare wood and applied five coats, of the McCluskey varnish. Last year I did a light sanding, and put one more coat on. Today I'm just about to put another coat on after two years. The varnish is still holding up very well, with no breakthrough or cracking. I've been extremely pleased with it.

I thought I'd pass that along to the collective. I have not been compensated in any way for this opinion. I never do that sort of thing. This is just my real world experience.

Having used epiphanes for a number of years, I have found that the McCluskey varnish is at least as good, if not better.

CaptVR here; I was just going to say the same, the Ace hardware single part polyurethane varnish is excellent, make sure you get the exterior, it has uv additives. I've used it for 10+ years. It's 1/3 the price of marine varnishes, and has held up excellent for me. I add a reinforcement coat about one time a year, and I thin it about 5% with Xylol. Florida sun is really ruff on varnish.

[chouliha]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

I have also used something called


Tonkinois


that came in a big barrel from France. It was not quite a varnish but I found it inexpensive, very easy to apply and good for about a year in our sun (high UV, 364 sunny days a year a norm here).


Maybe it was some kind of high oil / low resin mix.


b.

I have used this same varnish in French Polynesia at the suggestion of another yachtie who swore by it. Keep in mind there are very few varnishes available in Tahiti. After using the Tonkinos ended up giving the rest away. Just wouldn’t hold up and remained kinda gummy

[MicHughV]

...when I re-varnish...a light sanding provides a " key" for the next coat...but some areas do require a little elbow grease...
...being born lazy.....I usually apply two coats on a re-varnish job.....but one should remember that the initial varnish job was 4-5 coats...
...when I re-varnish, I typically do 2 coats right behind each other....ie, I will varnish one side of handrails....then go to the other side....then back to the first side....this lets the 2nd coat bind with a tacky first coat..which...in my humble inexperienced opinion provides the 2nd coat with a better grip...it also provides me with a varnish job I can complete in under a day.
...I favor the those little foam brushes for varnishing as they have a sharp edge so it's easy to follow a straight line. These brushes are cheap " throwaways"....I will buy several, so when one brush looses it's edge I can immediately replace with another one...
...so far....so good...

[Hardhead]

Originally Posted by MicHughV

...when I re-varnish...a light sanding provides a " key" for the next coat...but some areas do require a little elbow grease...
...being born lazy.....I usually apply two coats on a re-varnish job.....but one should remember that the initial varnish job was 4-5 coats...
...when I re-varnish, I typically do 2 coats right behind each other....ie, I will varnish one side of handrails....then go to the other side....then back to the first side....this lets the 2nd coat bind with a tacky first coat..which...in my humble inexperienced opinion provides the 2nd coat with a better grip...it also provides me with a varnish job I can complete in under a day.
...I favor the those little foam brushes for varnishing as they have a sharp edge so it's easy to follow a straight line. These brushes are cheap " throwaways"....I will buy several, so when one brush looses it's edge I can immediately replace with another one...
...so far....so good...

Sounds like you have it down. You can't beat the look of nice teak. Thanks for the advice.

[SVTatia]

Minwax Helmsman and Ace varnish came up pretty good when tested with all the other "heavy duty" marine varnishes out there - Practical Sailor Sep 2011.

[dennismenace111]

Originally Posted by briblack

I've grown to trust, as well as like, the Minwax spar urethane I get a home depot, etc. And it dries quickly, recoats come quicker

As I stated in my earlier post....I used it 6 months ago in early spring and so far is still looking great in the South Florida summer sun. It must have alot of UV inhibitors cause there is no sign of deterioration.

And the price is right... I think it was $17 for a quart that went a long way...

[dennismenace111]

Originally Posted by SVTatia

Minwax Helmsman and Ace varnish came up pretty good when tested with all the other "heavy duty" marine varnishes out there - Practical Sailor Sep 2011.

The PS review was my main reason for trying the Minwax. That and the price.

[Allen Arin]

Thanks for the useful tips but use Krylon kamar varnish is an alternative that can be used on either oil or acrylics and you can use it on watercoolers and even inkjet prints. It's a little bit less in cost and it doesn't yellow

[oldbilbo]

The mischievous white-haired seller of 'Le Tonkinois' varnish for decades, Brian Murkin - as now used on 'Kaskelot', Cutty Sark' and 'Suhaili - answers that question by recommending decanting the residual varnish into one or more small plastic bottles until full. 'Don't use the biodegradable type of bottle', he cautions, 'but exclude all air.'


In his printed/online instructions he warns 'Do not apply in direct hot sun or high humidity'.



www.letonkinoisvarnish.co.uk

[Giro]

Recently I had all my teak handrails, etc. replaced on my boat’s deck. The boatyard hand rubbed them all with teak oil. Do I really need to worry about varnishing this stuff or can I just schedule oil applications consistently?

[alexanick]

What kind of bottom paint does Home Depot have?

[Rendova]

Regarding the varnishing without sanding between coats. That is Epifanes Rapidcoat which is used to build up coats of varnish. You must sand before applying the first coat. After that you may apply every 6 hrs without sanding. I think you have a 72 hr window max or you must sand again. I use it all the time. It is a bit watery and it says do not thin. For my last coat I use regular Epifane to seal it all but that is just my habit. I also checked the price diff, Epifane is a few dollars more. I have used Bloxygen with mixed results and I had tried other air displacements.

[StuartWeibel]

Nice to see recommendations on inexpensive varnishes. I may even try one or two.

Worthwhile to keep in mind that the total cost of varnishing is strongly influenced by climate, prep time, ease of application, and product durability -- the cost of the can is the smallest part of the whole thing. For me, an old man caring for a lovely wooden boat, I'll pay most any product cost to minimize the work involved to achieve good protection and appearance.

I varnish every year... two days to tape off the boat, 2 hours a day x number-of-coats, two days to de-tape. Cost of boat ownership.

Speaking of which, if you look at the total cost of boat ownership, I probably buy 6 quarts of various finishes for my 26 foot boat each year. At $40 a quart, that is $240. If I bought product that was half the cost, I would save $120. My annual cost of boat ownership is ~$8,000, $5,000 of which is moorage (boat lives in the water in Seattle). It isn't that I would object to paying less, but it is scarcely worth worrying about saving 1.5% of my total cost of boat ownership. So, if I'm happy with the performance of a product, I'm not going to bother to look for a cheaper alternative.

Your mileage may vary... mine sure does ;-)

[DeValency]

Originally Posted by pdxsailordiver

I’ve been using McCluskey varnish for years. Tried all the expensive varnishes and went back to McCluskey varnish. I did make sunbrella covers for all bright work.Attachment 199723

Wow! looks fantastic, but guess the wood you have there is a really good cherry which is an amazing wood to varnish...
In my case, my Contest 43 entire decks are the original 28 years old Burmese teak, 10mm(!) that in a general good shape, but sanded to death by the former owners -- so sanding isn't an option. I'm making some experiments (see a separate post) but so far the only treatment, except a through cleaning is using a SEMCO (Golden tone -- absolutely no other) twice to maintain the original rich color over the grayish... Yet, looking for the best light, water based varnish to go over it in order to maintain the teak look for at least 6 months.

Would love to have my decks look like yours...

[DeValency]

Originally Posted by MicHughV

...when I re-varnish...a light sanding provides a " key" for the next coat...but some areas do require a little elbow grease...
...being born lazy.....I usually apply two coats on a re-varnish job.....but one should remember that the initial varnish job was 4-5 coats...
...when I re-varnish, I typically do 2 coats right behind each other....ie, I will varnish one side of handrails....then go to the other side....then back to the first side....this lets the 2nd coat bind with a tacky first coat..which...in my humble inexperienced opinion provides the 2nd coat with a better grip...it also provides me with a varnish job I can complete in under a day.
...I favor the those little foam brushes for varnishing as they have a sharp edge so it's easy to follow a straight line. These brushes are cheap " throwaways"....I will buy several, so when one brush looses it's edge I can immediately replace with another one...
...so far....so good...

What kind of Varnish are you using on the teak? - teak is a tricky amazing wood and i'm very concerned about using anything but a good sealer... Having said that I would really like to varnish the teak decks.