epoxy on attachments
epoxy on attachments
I am about to attach my inwalls and was wondering Should I coat all the attachments, deck thwart etc. with epoxy before I put them on or will the varnish be enough protection
- Bryan Hansel
- Posts: 678
- Joined: Fri May 14, 2004 6:36 pm
- Location: Grand Marais, MN
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It's a personal choice. If you are attaching them to the hull with epoxy or glue, then make sure all the surfaces are coated liberally. If you are attaching them with screws, you should varnish or epoxy the parts that will come into contact with the hull before attaching.
I oil all my gunwales, yokes, thwarts with Watco oil. Some people varnish. Some people epoxy and then varnish. It's really up to you depending on how much protection from water you need.
Bryan
I oil all my gunwales, yokes, thwarts with Watco oil. Some people varnish. Some people epoxy and then varnish. It's really up to you depending on how much protection from water you need.
Bryan
I epoxied and varnished the outwales only, since they get the most abuse - this was West's recommendation for protecting wood in one of their technical reports. So far that combination seems to be working very well, and after a year and a half there's been no maintenance needed yet.
The epoxy/varnish combo worked well enough so that I'm trying it in an ash paddle I recently made - those get even more abuse, so we'll see how that works out. Ash blackens and rots easily with ongoing water exposure, so maybe the added protection will last longer than varnish alone.
Oiled paddles let through water easily, and they will blacken with time, and this is also true for varnish, although to a lesser extent. Varnished ash outwales on an older canoe began to rot out after about ten years, so I'm hoping that these epoxied outwales will be longer-lasting.
The epoxy/varnish combo worked well enough so that I'm trying it in an ash paddle I recently made - those get even more abuse, so we'll see how that works out. Ash blackens and rots easily with ongoing water exposure, so maybe the added protection will last longer than varnish alone.
Oiled paddles let through water easily, and they will blacken with time, and this is also true for varnish, although to a lesser extent. Varnished ash outwales on an older canoe began to rot out after about ten years, so I'm hoping that these epoxied outwales will be longer-lasting.
- KARKAUAI
- Posts: 362
- Joined: Sat May 08, 2004 3:06 pm
- Location: Hickory, NC / Princeville, Kauai, HI
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I've only built two canoes, both with ash gunwales. There have been several discussions about whether to epoxy gunwales before varnishing. Though it is a personal choice, there is general agreement that ash gunwales will get a black discoloration if they get wet under the varnish. A lot of builders seem to prefer 2-3 coats of epoxy under the varnish on ash. Less agreement on other woods.
A hui ho,
Kent
Kent