Boat Varnish Techniques And Outcomes
This is the story of a beautiful wooden boat and the boat varnish techniques that the owner uses. That boat is Taurus, a 49 foot Frers wood yawl with a varnished hull. Christian Carleton is the owner of that boat. Everyone who owns a varnished wooden boat knows how time consuming it can be to maintain a perfect varnish finish. The below details the boat varnish techniques that Christian used on Taurus, and the spectacular results he achieved.
The Original Finish – CPES to prime under Varnish
Maintenance of the Varnish
All varnish is attacked by Ultraviolet Light, which breaks down the UV absorbers within it. Any boat varnish technique will involve replenishment of those UV absorbers:
‘On average every two years since then, the boat has received 3 coats by brush or, 1 coat by brush then 1 by spray of new Epifanes.’
Exposure to the elements
‘I have side covers that generally stay on 6-9 months per year, but during the summer they are almost always off and we use the hell out of the boat. If I had been more religious with putting the covers on during the summer months I believe the varnish would have lasted many more years.’
Durability – Long life for Varnish on Wood
The result of good boat varnish technique:
‘The problem I’m having now is the varnish is lifting off the CPES (blistering) to a point where it is more time consuming to repair it than to strip it all and start over. It only lasted 16 years! (This was written in 2007)’
Christian of course refinished the boat using CPES once more. It is far too early to say how long it will last this time. He has certainly discovered the secret of low maintenance wood however, and offers this testimonial:
‘You are welcome to use my name, my experience, and any photos of the boat in your testimonials. I am a true believer in your CPES product. I have been using it since 1991 on every piece of wood I put into a boat.’
A Full How To Achieve This Longevity On Varnish – Boat Varnish Techniques in Pictures and Words
We have just published detailed instructions on how to achieve the finish that Carlton achieved, and to get the durability that he did. Our house sign was the subject of this restoration.
We restored it from badly aged bare wood back to the wonderful lustrous highly UV resistant specimen you see here.
Read all about how to achieve this look, and the specific benefits of priming with Smiths CPES in our article restoring our exterior wooden sign.