wipe on poly

[Harvey Pascoe]

I just tested out a relatively new marine varnish that is made with Tung and this stuff is indeed "rubbery" and I don't like it one bit. Takes 48 hours to cure to effectively sand without clogging paper despite mfgr claim of 12 hours.

On another note, I've never done wipe on before but ended up doing it inadvertantly the other day as my dirty spray gun flung a load of crap. Rather than letting it dry and sanding it off, I grabbed a paper towel and wiped it off. I looked a the result and thought, "Hey, this is pretty neat but for the streaks" so I wiped again and took it all off. It left a semi gloss appearance that was rather attractive.

Has anyone tried this technique of spray on, wipe off? Or is using a saturated applicator the best way to go? Frankly, I don't know what kind of finish one achieves with wipe on. Are you looking for high gloss or something less?

[Scott Holmes]

Marine varnishes are softer by design.

As for wipe-on the varnish is the same. Wipe-on an exterior varnish and it will be softer and more rubbery than an interior varnish. It has to be able to stretch without cracking. the Tung oil in it, is not at fault, it's made that way. Interior varnish made with tung oil is still a hard varnish.

Wipe-on 12 coats of interior varnish and you will be hard pressed to tell the difference from 3 or 4 brushed-on or sprayed on coats.

Spray-on - wipe-off would waste a lot of finish. It could speed the application of an oil/varnish blend which should be applied; left to set awhile and then wiped off. Wipe-on varnish has no "wipe-off" step.

Only thinned varnish should be used as a wiped-on (there is no wipe-off step for wiping varnish).

[Harvey Pascoe]

I've used a lot of marine varnishes and not all are formulated soft. Most of the so-called captain's varnishes are quite hard, typically made for things like hand railings or anything that gets a lot of hand contact. Softer varnishes do not fully cure and therefore are very susceptible to being further softened, even turned to muck, by body oils and acids transferred by handling, as do most finishes, true polyurethanes excluded.

How long do you think a softer, stretchable varnish stays that way in the blazing sun when the surface heats up to 150* every day? It oxidizes and embrittles fast. I grew up with wood boats, spent most of my career in the boating industry and frankly, I don't see a dimes' worth of difference between how marine and non marine varnishes hold up so long as they have UV inhibitors. The truth is that none of them hold up well and their longevity is about the same whether you use Minwax or Epiphanes or Imron clear. Spend $175/gal for catalyzed polyurethane and it won't do much better.