Re: Paint/Varnish

Posted by Howard on Aug 5, 2005

My preference has always been to varnish before paint. the reason i do it that way is that you can paint over varnish and get a clean line. also, it is a lot easier to clean a drop of paint off of varnish than a sanded deck.

if you do a standard paint scheme (where the paint comes up about an inch onto the deck)...you varnish the entire deck...and then do a very light sanding at the shear edge to blend the edge of the varnish into the shear. after letting the varnish harden (and i would give a solid week to let it really get hard)...you then mask the deck, flip it over and paint it.

the reason for the week to let the varnish harden, is that after four to five coats of varnish, when you turn the boat over, you can leave a little indentation in the varnish unless it is really dry. if you want to work faster than a week...then make sure you have a lot of padding to prevent pressure marks on the varnish.

as for base paint, i am not sure what you are referring to as base paint...but if you are referring to the white filler paint (to get a super smooth finish)....this paint is only for filling little pinholes and is almost completely sanded off after it is applied/before the coloured paint is applied. It works fine...but only if it is almost all sanded off. these days, i spend a bit more time sanding the epoxy and paint directly on the epoxy without the filler coat. and that works just fine too.

In Response to: Paint/Varnish by Mike on Aug 5, 2005

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