Re: Varnish Suggestions

Posted by Terry Mcadams on Sep 9, 2004

Steve,

Thanks for the details on doing the large surfaces. It's in painting those kind of surfaces that I've used penetrol with good results. I even mix it with the paint I use on my house siding, which makes the pads slide nicely and, I think, improves adhesion (my siding paint is on 20 years this year - like I said, I'm LAZY).

I'm thinking of building a small power tug that has large expanses of topsides to be painted. Wooden boat had a great article a while back on how to paint these kinds of surfaces, i.e., use a big roller, a large tipping brush and ideal weather. I don't recall if the article mentioned penetrol, but I do intend to try it on that paint job.

That story about the girl doing the yacht transom with the sable brush does not surprise me at all. I recall a few finicky yacht owners who wanted us to use brand new brushes for each coat, such are the superstitions and myths that surround varnishing. We'd use the brushes if they bought them, and marvel at the way rich folks waste their money. Usually, we'd just use the same old moderately clean brushes, wet sand every other coat and use a fine auto polish on the last coat to remove the dust bumps so that the owners could make the inevitable "smooth as a baby's a - - " comment when they fondled their transoms.

A nice thing about kayaking, and Canada, is that there's fewer overly-rich folks to give boat yard workers headaches.

I met a former shop manager for the Hinckley Yacht factory in Maine a few years ago. I said it must have been a joy to work on boats with unlimited construction and maintence budgets. He said the opposite was true, in that his clients often wanted the quality, but at a bargain price that they were only too willing to argue about. He quit and went into real estate. All that boat building talent gone to waste.

Anyhow, I'm digressing to the point of incoherence. Thanks, again, for sharing your experience.

terry

In Response to: Re: Varnish Suggestions by Steve Miller on Sep 8, 2004

Replies:

• Re: Varnish Suggestions by Steve Miller on Sep 9, 2004
  • Re: Varnish Suggestions by Terry Mcadams on Sep 9, 2004
• Re: Varnish Suggestions by Mark Camp on Sep 9, 2004