varnish over epoxy?

[vta]

hauled my c19 for some upgrades. one of the projects is to build a stern (mahogany) bench seat. the finish so far has been several coats of low viscosity epoxy. question is- can i coat over with varnish, traditional or uv polyurethane varnish.

thx, vta

[Seadation]

Hello vta,

You can coat your epoxy-primed mahogany with "regular" solvent based marine varnish or polyurethane. The varnish will last longer over the epoxy than if it where applied to the bare wood. UV rays will eventually degrade the bond between the topcoat and the epoxy underneath.

A better alternative would be to coat the epoxy-primed wood with something like System 3 LPU clear coat. Or, if your fund$ permit, the Sterling clear coat product. You really want to go for the best UV resistance available especially since you are in the Virgin Islands.

Fair Winds,

/david

[Spokaloo]

Below is a HUGE picture so you can see close up what clear S3 LPU over epoxy looks like on ribbonstripe mahogany:



It's hard as a rock, good stuff.

E

[UncleRalph]

Just make sure the epoxy is fully cured. How long that takes is a function of the type of epoxy, temperature, number of coats, etc. I once applied varnish over epoxy that I thought was cured, but wasn't. The varnish never hardened. It was a mess, but fortunately it was a fairly small piece.

Ralph

[chicagoross]

I used 3 coats of marine varathane over 3 coats of epoxy, light hand sanding between each coat on philippine mahogany (meranti ) handrails. 2+ years and in the sun every day still looks good.