"smith and company " in alamed, ca. makes a great penetrating epoxy, they have been around longer than most, if not all, in the boating epoxy field and was a really popular product in the days of ferrocement boats to seal the hull and its an amazing product. it always amazes me how something as liquid as water in a cup can turn rock hard irrelevant of volume. their stuff is really really thin, like water and will penetrate the smallest cracks. I tried the penetrating epoxy west marine sells (west system I believe ) and it sucks compared to the smith product... and if anyone is going to use cetol, you might as well simply paint the wood.... the only good to say about it is that it does last a long time....but looks like shit. let me rephrase that, it doesnt look like varnish. so as long as it isnt refered to as "brightwork " I suppose its ok... there is no miracle cure, if you want nice bright work, you have to put in the time... eric ----- Original Message ----- From: waterguy<mailto:[email protected]> To: UnifliteWorld<mailto:[email protected]> Sent: Sunday, December 06, 2009 11:54 PM Subject: [UnifliteWorld] Re: Any suggestions
Epoxy saturation can work well on highly exposed brightwork. Briefly, you sand off all the old varnish, then mix up a batch of well-thinned epoxy. Paint it on just as you would varnish. Then wait. You'll freak out when bubbles start appearing, but not to worry, this is the epoxy working its way into the wood and displacing air. Wait until it dries, sand it down (you'll take of the surface coat of epoxy) then repeat. Continue repeating until it doesn't bubble any more, then build up 5 or 6 coats of epoxy. You have to sand lightly between coats so the new coat can key to the old. Let it cure for a week or so, then cover with the best-quality outdoor marine spar varnish. Epoxy has no UV resistance, so you need to cover with something that does. Cetol has tons of UV resistors, which is why it lasts so long -- that's also what gives it that rusty-orange color. You'll still need to lightly scuff and varnish at least twice a year, but the epoxy base makes the wood almost impervious to water. It's not so highly recommended over teak, which has a lot of natural oils and can resist the epoxy. I refinished the brightwork on an old SeaRay runabout that had wood rails and wood trim and it worked beautifully -- everywhere but the teak swimstep. There, the epoxy started coming off in nasty sheets after one season. And this is where you get the downside of epoxy: If the adhering fails, it's just awful to try to sand off. It's an immensely hard surface, so if it fails in part, you spend lots and lots of time sanding down the parts where it has bonded. Surface prep is vital. Sand down to the wood, then use diluted oxalic acid (available in powder form at West Marine). Be careful with the acid and don't let it get on your boat. It's best to remove any wood before treating, but if you can't, brush the acid on, and have some baking soda heavily diluted with water handy. If the acid runs, wipe it up with a rag soaked in the weak baking powder solution. This will neutralize the acid and keep your boat from runs that will look like you spilled bleach. You said your boat is in an open moorage, and you do the wood once a year. Sadly, that's not enough. I have a friend with a 50-foot Chris- Craft flushdeck that's kept in covered moorage, and he does his wood once a year. If you catch it before the surface coat starts to split, a light sanding and two or three quick coats, and you're done. If the surface splits, well . . . you know. Sand it down to bare wood and start over. You can never fix it once the surface goes. In the open, in the Northwest, twice is the bare minimum, and with a summer like we had here in Seattle with more sunny days than I can ever remember, 3 times might be called for. Even when it's overcast, a lot of UV penetrates. Count your blessings. In Florida, people are doing their brightwork every couple of months. Den suggested a sunbrella sock for your rail, and now you know why the high-end trawlers (those that still have brightwork cappings and rails) have those dainty wrappings for all the miscellaneous fiddly bits. It's not to keep the water off, it's to keep them out of the sun. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "UnifliteWorld" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/unifliteworld?hl=en<http://groups.google.com/group/unifliteworld?hl=en>. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "UnifliteWorld" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/unifliteworld?hl=en.
