Has anyone ever stained a boat?

Paddle on the Crow · Post by **Paddle on the Crow** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 9:23 pm

I'm not saying that I would want to, but I am curious if anyone has ever stained a boat prior to glassing? Would the epoxy work properly if it were stained? (I'm picturing a "Wild Cherry" color in my mind thinking it would be pretty neat looking.)

POTC

mtpocket · Post by **mtpocket** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 9:28 pm

I did not stain a boat but I did use Aniline Dye on a kayak. I bought it through Woodcraft.com. The instructions said to mix it with water or alchohol. I chose water. I used red on one area and blue on another. At first, it looked real nice. The sun has faded it some and it isn't near as red or blue. Ted Moores had one or more kayaks that he also did something similar on and his results looked better than mine.

Wood stains have oils in them that might prevent the epoxy from getting a good bond.

Glen Smith · Post by **Glen Smith** » Wed Mar 18, 2009 9:35 pm

West System has done multiple tests on epoxy adhesion over stains, pigments and other finishes. Read about it in Epoxyworks.
http://www.epoxyworks.com/21/index21.html

Rick · Post by **Rick** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 10:26 am

Another risk with stain is if there are areas that will not allow the stain to soak into the wood (eg, glue-soaked wood that was not sanded out completely), those areas will be lighter than wood that takes stain. Staining the outside of the hull will be less risky than staining the inside, where removing the last traces of glue will be more difficult.

Would the epoxy work properly if it were stained?

I've tried adding earth pigment powders to epoxy (eg. burnt sienna) when finishing a paddle and it's difficult to get a uniform stain, because some areas will be thicker than others making the stain splotchy and uneven. I ended up sanding it off. It probably could be done evenly if enough thin coats were applied but I'm not about to do that much work.

Risky business, stain, after all the work that goes into building.

Glen Smith · Post by **Glen Smith** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 10:42 am

Here is a link on hull staining: http://www.greenval.com/FAQstaining.html

pawistik · Post by **pawistik** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 2:08 pm

mtpocket wrote:I did not stain a boat but I did use Aniline Dye.... The instructions said to mix it with water or alcohol. I chose water.

You could have had a real nice "whiskey" coloured boat if you had gone the alcohol route. How about dark rum, or perhaps red wine, in which case I suppose you could skip the dye addition. ;) Just joking of course (mostly).

Bryan Hansel has done some work with dyeing his kayak. You can find information about it at nessmuking.com: http://www.nessmuking.com/articles/buil ... uit-kayak/

Cheers,
Bryan S.

mtpocket · Post by **mtpocket** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 8:09 pm

I never thought about using that kind of alcohol. I might have had better success had I done that.

Another issue to think about when using dye or stain on a boat is repairs. If you ever need to do a repair, will you be able to match it after the sun fades it.

Paddle on the Crow · Post by **Paddle on the Crow** » Thu Mar 19, 2009 8:55 pm

Thanks everyone for the great information!!!!!!!!!!

That dark hull looks purdy!
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