Varnish may boast ultraviolet inhibitors but regular rubbing back and topping up is keyT
he one part of the boat most likely to indicate the standard
of upkeep is the brightwork, and it is also the coating that
is most vulnerable. Although varnishes have ultraviolet
inhibitors, they are more prone to damage as they lack the
sun-blocking pigments of paint.
Research into varnish is ongoing, and one of the most talked
about additions to the professional arsenal is Awlwood, a tough,
spray-on varnish now being widely used by the newbuild and
refit industry, as it is easily repairable in service by the crew.
Varnishes come in many different types, ranging from a
saturating teak oil, such as Deks Olje, where the top coat is
simply renewed when needed, through to single-pack
polyurethanes such as Epifanes, and
two-pack ‘hard’ varnishes such as Hempel’s
Diamond range. The same rules apply, with a
few little tricks included, such as warming
bare wood first so it draws the first primer
coat into the fibres as it cools. Oils and
single-pack varnishes are used where the
wood flexes, and two packs where it is rigid.
The trick with extending the life of your
varnish is to protect it as much as possiblefrom ultraviolet radiation and many boat owners make quite
complex covers to protect their coatings not just from
ultraviolet, but also from frost damage in the winter.
It is also critical to rub back and touch in any scrapes or
other damage as soon as you spot them, to prevent water from
infiltrating the coatings and lifting them from underneath –
the old stitch-in-time routine.
The iconic Riva brand, for example, goes to great lengths to
prepare its new-build boats for the Mediterranean sun by using
the Italian Veneziani system. When creating the trademark
mahogany and sapele decks, a Riva operative carefully drips a
thinned first coat into the hairline cracks between the planks to
exclude any air. The next six coats of
Veneziani varnish will go on by hand under
full climate control, and the next 10 will be
sprayed in a ‘positive pressure’ booth. The
result is like hardened glass. Meanwhile, in
the main workshops, joiners create the
signature wraparound mahogany rubbing
strake with a ‘compression notch’. This
allows varnish to move as a hinge instead of
cracking open in this vulnerable spot.VARNISH
“It is also critical
to rub back and
touch in any
scrapes or other
damage as soon
as you spot them”