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All: Here is the question: I want to install glass over the varnished deck. Is that a go, no-go from past experience?
I have the Chesapeake 18' and triple. I built the 18' around 20 years ago and the triple a year or so later. The exact dates have been covered in years. At that time, the decks of the Chesapeakes were NOT covered in glass. The years of use on the 18' in particular have added wear on the deck. I want to re-finish the deck with glass over the forward top deck certainly and perhaps on the aft. I painted both as the "floating log" was not in style at that time. So there is the issue of paint on the top edge of the deck. I first noticed stress cracks on the fore deck of the 18' -- Which is probably why they are glassed now. I was rolling the 18' and I believe that started the process when my knees contacted/stressed the deck when bracing. Current kits appear to glass the decks during construction. Any thoughts on glass over the varnish? I would assume light sanding the deck, wetting the glass and sanding as normal. I want to assure the glass adheres to the varnished deck. Frayed edges of glass at the coaming termination are a consideration. I have added glass at the wear points over the years -- Bow and stern. I sanded thoroughly and glassed, then re-painted. I am way past babying the 18'. It gets regular use and the occasional drop from the car top when loading. Thanks in advance. Brian
9 replies:
RE: Fiberglass over varnish
I'm puzzled. The kayak seems to be holding up well to all sorts of use (and abuse). Why glass it now? UV light quickly discolors epoxy, so you'd have to put varnish on after glassing the deck. Why not just sand it lightly and coat it with several coats of varnish. If you are just trying for protection and a nice finish but you don't care about having a showroom boat, you can apply multiple thin coats of varnish in one day. They just need to be dry to the touch between coats. No sanding. Then let the varnish dry for a month or so before going back to normal abuse! While it's drying, it's fine to use the boat carefully, but the unhardened varnish can pick up scratches easily at that stage. So babying it for a month would be best.
That's just my take -- and I don't build show boats.
RE: Fiberglass over varnish
the answer is pretty straight forward, you don't want to put glass on top of varnish.
varnish is not a proper substrate and the glass will quickly peel/seperate if applied over varnish.
so if you wanto glass it, you need sand the varnish off....its a bit of a chore but if you break it down over several days, not a big deal. you just sand it gently (a sanding scrub pad works best for this) until you get to the underlying epoxy layer or wood itself.
fwiw, i glassed the deck on an old chesapeake i have and it came out just fine.
now do you need to do it? i don't know as i did not do a side-by-side comparison....i just wanted to bring it up to modern specifications and took everybody's word that it improved the long-term-durability of the deck and it made me feel better. i also put on hatch lips that helped me get a real good hatch seal (no leaking anymore). hatch lips were also a feature that came about later in the life of these designs and clc will happily sell you a set and send it to you in the mail.
so if you look at my old boat, it looks pretty new.....and it is now over 20 years old.
hope that helps
h
RE: Fiberglass over varnish
here is a link to a picture of the boat i was talking about...its the yellow one...recently celebrating its 20th birthday...or thereabouts.
https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipOhm0ErK_yaxyHkfGidUkJRW8y_6QR6-v0Y7M1PYTBB1YgBEvSZINtbGfVmcDb9sg/photo/AF1QipMmfHnMpS5kTEBaKCmvPzJZaIv_-3bE5Uim1Upc?key=ZnBDNS0ySjJkUlFHZ2d5RmNGWWtqUWhyUzkzVlZn
https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipOhm0ErK_yaxyHkfGidUkJRW8y_6QR6-v0Y7M1PYTBB1YgBEvSZINtbGfVmcDb9sg/photo/AF1QipMUhPNOeM3lE-rSlO_cSoWRaj3yUYvvBTg9L1Du?key=ZnBDNS0ySjJkUlFHZ2d5RmNGWWtqUWhyUzkzVlZn
RE: Fiberglass over varnish
It's not really fair to send links with such an active woman in the picture. I still have no idea what your kayak looks like!
RE: Fiberglass over varnish
Great responses. Regular freshening of the varnish is a given. The stress cracks will lead to ply delamination at some time. My thought was to get ahead of the issue and prevent a larger repair later. I was pretty sure the proposed work would require stripping/sanding out the varnish to assure a clean bond to the deck. The West System product info was instructive on that. I looked at the hatch lips/coaming and that has got to be an improvement over the weather strip water barrier. I am thinking the fall is the best time for the work. Thanks for the thoughtful responses. Best to all the building and paddling community.
RE: Fiberglass over varnish
The links are down, I get an error 404 trying to see them.
Still, thanks for the clear explanation about how to put fiberglass over the wooden deck, if I got things right, the point is to get a more durable surface that'll offer a better resistence to water infiltration as well?
RE: Fiberglass over varnish
you got it. sorry about the links. getting a picture up on this site is a total mystery now. i think you would be able to see the links if you had a google account and was logged in and then hit the link.
RE: Fiberglass over varnish
» Submitted by Grumpy - Tue, 4/28/20 » 5:24 PM
Remember varnish is for UV protection and pretty. It doesn't provide a structural component. It can work as a bond breaker and not allow the new glass and epoxy to stick.
Remove the varnish and paint.....sand to the epoxy and glass the epoxy covered wood. I have heard of using paint remover but haven't done it. Be suspicious of paint removers that leave residue. I prefer sanding it smooths the surface as well and removes old repairs. Either way when you get to the epoxy/wood surfice clean off dust, oils, etc with some denatured alcohol rag.