Final Stroke Of The Epifanes Experiment
After my Bristol Finish Experiment came out a bit “plasticy”, I decided to go back to the old favorite: Epifanes. But I didn’t want to spend the rest of the year building up coats on my last two hatches (main slide and seahood). So I employed the quick re-coat abilities of Epifanes Rapid Clear. I was able to recoat within about 4 hours, no sanding required. The Rapid Clear went on smoothly and evenly. However, I did build up a few sags, that were evident when I sanded back for the final coat. Still, despite some serious sags, you can’t complain with a coat-to-sanding ratio of 9:1.
On the left: Rapid Clear @ 8 coats.
On the right: Sanding back shows the sags before the final Hi Gloss coat.
After sanding lightly with 220 to knock back the dust particles and help calm some of the waves, I used a brown scrubby pad to scuff the rest of the hatch. No section was left shiney. Although the hi gloss looks really good, it’s not as smooth as I would have liked, nor is it as smooth as the final coat of Bristol Finish I laid on the forward scuttle. I should have sanded it a bit harder, but the fear of losing too many hard earned coats overcame me. I found the color of the finished product to be slightly lighter, more translucent than the Bristol Finish, but only upon close inspection. The Epifanes 10 coat procedure was more labor intensive and time consuming than the 6 coats of Bristol Finish, and the look isn’t that much different. I think I’m going to continue using the Bristol Finish on the cockpit coamings and eyebrow, especially since Bristol Finish is said to stand up to the elements (UV) much better then traditional spar varnish… but ask me again tomorrow and I might have changed my mind - I’ve come to love both products.
One thing I was reminded of by my friend Robert Sutton, who is building a 42′ Westsail, is that brush quality plays a major role in how flat and smooth your coats lays down. I switched to a Sea Fit Flasgship brush for the final coat of Hi Gloss, and Wow! What a difference. Much better flow and coverage, with less work, and fewer dropped bristles! I wonder how much better this might have turned out if I had used the Flagship from the get-go.
One other note is that the Type P Caulk seems to be receding into the seams, and there is now a shallow spot between some of the planks. The regular Life Caulk under the Bristol Finish did not do this. A mystery.
If you can stomach it (have the time), I would do just a couple more (2-3) coats of final gloss to help fill it in a bit more. Hard block it (with a little aggression, you have plenty of build coats, but go easy the edges) with 220 in between with 320 before the very final. At least the top of the hatchcover.
That hatchcover is a very nice piece and it will show off well. Plus it is mostly flat and is easy to hard block (I wish I could say that for my little sloop, which has lots of roundy bits).
But I understand about varnishing from “here to eternity”. The routine gets old quick. Do you have a canvas cover for the hatch? Took us ten years of varnishing before we finally made a cover. Boy were we stupid! lol. Shoulda done it from the get go.
Looks really good.
Yeah, I would love to do another coat or two, but I’m out of time on this one, but there’s always next year! I do have covers for everything thank goodness. Which is always funny to me, we work so hard on this damn varnish, then cover it up, as if to hide it
Onto the bulwarks for me…
Ben, that looks awesome. I really wish I had used something other than Cetol so I had something I didnt have to wait 24 hours between coats. Live and learn I guess but I didnt know about these other finishes when I did the work two years ago. Oh well.
Kevin,
You don’t have to wait 24 hrs for the Cetol. You can recoat after it goes tacky, like 5 hours or so. Which Cetol did you use? Do you have pics?