Epoxy, painting and varnishing help please.

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Sicobra
Posts: 277
Joined: Thu Sep 08, 2011 8:03 pm
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Location: Norfolk

Epoxy, painting and varnishing help please.

Post by Sicobra »

Hi guys, seasons greeting to you all and some advice please.

My plans for my plywood runabout this spring is to refurbish the finish both inside and out and I could do with some advice on what to use. At the moment she has a painted hull, varnished top deck and varnished interior and I plan to stick with this combination. As my local supplier of Hempell and International products has a 25% sale on at the moment I am going to buy the products now for spring use but what to use and where?

1/ I intend to epoxy sheet both the hull and top decks for strength and durability so when I come to paint the hull do I need
to prime it first( if so with what?) and do I use a two pack paint for the top coat?

2/ do I need to prime the top deck before varnish and again do I use two pack varnish and again which is best.

3/ is it best to do the exterior work first or the interior(varnish). I will be turning her over for the hull work.

Any other tips, advice or recommendations greatly appreciated.

Happy new year, cheers, Simon

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sean-nós
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Re: Epoxy, painting and varnishing help please.

Post by sean-nós »

Hi Sicobra, on my builds I used two coats pre-kote primer and then toplac International these are single pack paints and are handy to work with.

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Inside the boat I also gave a few coats of epoxy and then varnished with a bit of sanding in-between :grrr:

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On the deck of the other boat I just coated it with a few coats of epoxy "no cloth" and then varnished it with international schooner.

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Woodwych
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Re: Epoxy, painting and varnishing help please.

Post by Woodwych »

I'm doing something very similar.I did the hull first with the boat upside down but whilst it was upside down I crawled underneath to paint/varnish those interior areas that would be tricky to do once the boat was back the right way round.
Paint and epoxy wise I used West system and as others advised me if you google "wooden boat restoration and repair west system" their incredibly useful guide will be available free.
I did plan to use fabric but after a few trial runs it was all too much like an episode of the 'Generation Game' so in the end I didn't use fabric but 3 coats of epoxy then 2 of International pre-kote then 3 of Toplac (rolling and tipping) and it looks pretty good. I'm tempted though to learn how to spray paint for the topsides to try and get a smoother finish.
Deck wise it will be epoxy again without fabric and epiphanes varnish.
West systems importers Wessex Resins are very good at answering email questions about painting and varnishing over their products
A couple of their responses about sanding back before paint and varnish here:

"Thank you for your question.

In order to apply a paint system over an epoxy barrier coat we recommend flatting it back with 120 grit sandpaper. You can then overcoat using a high build primer and then again flat it back as per the manufacturers instructions. The 220 grit is therefore a bit too fine. It will still be difficult to eradicate every tiny dimple of shiny epoxy, but do your best and the 120 grit should help. I trust that you remembered to wash the epoxy thoroughly to remove the amine blush before sanding. If not, you sand the amines into the cured epoxy and then suffer major curing problems and fish eyeing of subsequent coatings."

"220 grit is used if you are going for a final bright varnished finish after coating with 207. I have personally found that a dry 180 grit and wiping with acetone is sufficient for bright finish if you are working in a non-professional finishing shop. 120 grit is used for a paint finish. It is difficult for us to be aware of every branded finish and I thought the products you were using are a painted finish. Apologies, if it is a varnish system use 180-220 grit."

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