PAINT OR VARNISH FIRST?

[Troy Scott]

Folks,

In the old days when boats were wooden and paint and varnish was redone by the yard each spring, the guys would varnish the trim first and then paint the deck and topsides. The reasoning was that it was easy to wipe the paint off a nicely varnished surface if the brush strayed. Conversely, if he had painted first and gotten paint on the unfinished teak or mahogany, the only choice was to re-sand the area. HOWEVER, with modern two-part polyurethane there is a new problem. The solvents are so strong that this paint can't be applied over single part paints (or varnish). I wonder what happenes when this paint is butted up next to varnish. Will the edge be damaged? Certainly an errant brush stroke onto the varnish would make a mess that couldn't just be wiped away with thinner on a rag. The answer would seem to be to paint first and varnish later. SO...., how to keep white paint off my stripped teak... Can any of you share some real-world experience?

[dasein668]

I applied several sealer coats to the wood, then masked and painted, then applied several finish coats of varnish.

[Troy Scott]

Nathan,
That's sort of what I've been thinking. Seal the teak, paint the deck, finish the teak.

Your boat is beautiful! What teak finish did you use?

[Russell]

I varnished first myself before painting the deck, but I used a 1 part paint for the deck, not as much of a problem, but using 2 part paints I would still varnish first. Even if your varnishing gets ruined, its a lot easier to sand back the varnish and redo it. Just mask very well to prevent most problems. Also let the varnish you do put on cure well before masking it, or the tape stands to risk removing the varnish. I would give it a couple weeks ideally, but I am no pro, it would just make me feel safer, knowing that varnish takes months to fully cure.

[dasein668]

Thanks Troy,

All the wood on Dasein is mahogany, except for the pre-manufactured grab rails, which are teak.

I use Epifanes Woodfinish Gloss for the first 4 or 5 build coats on new wood (without sanding if I stay within the time frame, or just light sanding if I don't) followed by a good sanding to help flatten the finish. I then "finish" up with 2-3 coats of Epifanes spar varnish on top, sanding between coats. All subsequent maintenance coats are spar varnish.

Here in Maine I find that I usually need 2-3 maintenance coats in the spring on horizontal surfaces. One is usually enough on vertical surfaces. Your mileage may vary!

[Russell]

Per daseins recommendation, definately overcoat Woodfinish Gloss if thats going to be your primary coating, I used it without overcoat, 10 coats of Woodfinish gloss, while nice and easy to apply and looked great, didnt last at all in the tropics, sun ate it like candy. I have been much happier though with going 100% normal epiphanes high gloss, even if more work.