Dingy floor - Varnish or Urethane?

[Bestathook]

I am refinishing the sectional floor boards of my Achilles dingy. They are sanded and ready to apply a finish.

Can anyone recommend a coating that wil seaaal the plywood, and stand up to some very heavy usage? I haven't used urethane, and am considering spar varnish.

Any suggestions or relevant experiences? Thanks in advance for your help.

[SailPenelope]

I used Interlux gray bilge paint (one part polyurethane), but it's not very pretty (the boards were originally gray, so it seemed logical).

My pal with the wonderful old schooner recommended Epiphanes varnish for the sole of my sailboat.....said it's really hard and durable......he's even used it for countertops. So that's what I'm currently doing......it's gorgeous.....we'll see how it holds up.

Frankly, I've come to regard any painting or varnishing tasks as ongoing maintenance.....helps my attitude.

[Jim Cate]

I don't know how you use your dinghy, but if you are a cruiser making a pretty, shiny, slippery sole for it is a bad idea IMO. We carry lots of crap in our dink, we track sand, mud, shells, rocks and other materials unfriendly to varnish into the dink every day. Propane tanks, anchors, other heavy and hard items get tossed in to a heaving dinghy... you get the idea!

So, if I had a dink with timber floorboards, I'd be looking at epoxy sealer followed by one of the water-based industrial walkway "paints". These are extremely durable, have unequaled non-slip grip and are inexpensive. Kiwi Grip is a similar product with the price elevated to reflect its "yacht quality" status. We've used one called "Sports-Cote", available here in Oz, costs about ten bucks a litre. The drawback to these products is their frankly industrial appearance, but to us this is a minor thing. YMMV.

Cheers,

Jim

[FSMike]

Jim Cate has it right -
It's much better to leave your dinghy floor dingy lol.

[Stumble]

Three coats of neat epoxy as a sealer, then non-skid deck paint.

[ozskipper]

As stumble said. The Non skid coat . Its then most important.. You can add some fine sand to your final coat, use a non skid paint, or sprinkle coarse sugar over the final coat (then use lots of hot water after to remove the sugar leaving a rough surface)