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Re: Strip: strip kayak spar varnish
By:Paul G. Jacobson
Date: 2/8/2011, 6:17 pm
In Response To: Strip: strip kayak spar varnish (Nick Riccardi)

: Hi Every one, I wounder if anyone can suggest a really good spar
: varnish, I used McClouskey's Man-O-War marine spar varnish
: #7509 gloss on my last boat and it turned honey colored in less
: than 3 months of use (real disapointed) and would like a
: recomendation for a good varnish with high UV protectation.
: thanks for all your help Nick R.

The good news is that the natural yellowing of varnish gives wood that golden look, and the color absorbs or blocks a lot of the UV. Thae bad news is that the natural yellowing of the varnish makes it yellow.

Don't be in a hurry to lay all the blame on your varnish. Your epoxy might be turning darker, too, and adding to the yellow color.

You might want to look at a urethane-based spar "varnish" finish instead of a conventional varnish. Unlike the older resins found in varnishes for the past couple of centuries., the urethane resins are supposed to stay clearer, or "white". I don;t have enough experience with them to say if that is so over a long time, but urethane finishes I've used on indoor projects have not yellowed as much as varnished projects.

Minwax makes an indoor/outdoor spar urethane. You might try to find a small can and do a few tests.

Your current varnish should do its protection job for several years. That gives you time to test several possible replacements. Unless you hate that color and have to remove it now, you have a few years to decide on the replacement.

PGJ

see: http://www.ehow.com/about_4699409_what-spar-urethane.html

Messages In This Thread

Strip: strip kayak spar varnish
Nick Riccardi -- 2/8/2011, 5:28 pm
Re: Strip: strip kayak spar varnish
Bill Hamm -- 2/8/2011, 5:53 pm
Re: Strip: strip kayak spar varnish
Eric -- 2/10/2011, 11:24 am
Re: Strip: strip kayak spar varnish
Bill Hamm -- 2/10/2011, 1:43 pm
Re: Strip: strip kayak spar varnish
Paul G. Jacobson -- 2/8/2011, 6:17 pm