Epifane RapidCoat Warning

Posted by John Beck on Apr 24, 2007

This is my testimonial NOT to try Epifanes RapidCoat in place of varnish. I can here you all now snickering and guffawing and telling me so, but I've got my reasons. I love Schooner varnish and have had good success in the past, but I wanted to try this stuff since it is clear and won't tint the blue stain on my SW deck, and it's semi-gloss which I was hoping wouldn't show the usual wear and tear as quickly as high gloss. And it says you can recoat within a few hours without sanding (who's not for that!).

First off, it's the viscosity of water and they say not to thin it with anything, oh oh. I realized during application of the first coat that this probably wouldn't work out. Its name, RapidCoat, describes its application properties; unable to maintain wet edge while leaving lap marks and brush marks. It dried so fast it looked like I've left holidays when I actually didn't. It reminded me of painting the fence in the yard under hot Virginia August sun with unthinned, 5 year old latex paint; insti-dry.

Not to worry, I've sanded it down and happily applied old faithful (Interlux Schooner Varnish) this morning with good success.

See you all at OkoumeFest with my shiny new boat.

John

Replies:

• Re: Epifane RapidCoat War by Michael on Apr 24, 2007
  • Re: Epifane RapidCoat War by Rod Tait on Apr 30, 2007