Re: [Paddlewise] wooden frame renovation

Hi Pawel,

I'm half way through varnishing my first boat, a folding kayak built from 
plans, so now's a good time to describe what I'm doing to see if I'm doing 
it right. There are three types of wood I used, ash for stringers and 
gunwales, okoume for ribs, and rotary cut mahogany for bottom (really poor 
way of saving money in the long run).

Here are my thoughts:

1. Epoxy does not have UV protection. Anywhere you use it you should use 
varnish over it for protection.

2. The open ends on the mahogany I first sealed with Interlux Interprime 
Wood Sealer. Two coats on edges, one on faces. Not necessary on your 
Nautiraid though. Sand between coats and after with 220 grit paper.

3. Then coated mahogany bottom, and okoume ribs with West Systems epoxy, 105 
resin and 205 hardener. Doesn't soak in as much as varnish, like I thought. 
This was my first time using it, had some small bubbles, found that by 
tipping off with a foam brushes helped. As an aside I found poly brush's at 
a craft store (same as West Marine)1 inch brushes four for 89 cents, 2 inch 
brushes 3 for 89 cents. Sand between coats with 220 grit. I did about 2 
coats. Rotary cut mahogany is terrible, all nooks and crannies. Glad I used 
sealer first on it. Didn't bother sealing okoume.

4. Then began coating mahogany, okoume, and ash with Interlux Clipper Clear 
Varnish 95. This is a one part polyurethane varnish. I'm thinking maybe I 
should have used regular spar varnish. The 95 is very glossy and more 
desrving of a fine job than what I want to put into it. Someone else 
mentioned somewhere that even though it is wear resistant, that means that 
sand and rocks scratch it, and it takes that much longer to refinish and 
sand in between coats. It looks real nice though. My ten year old daughter 
was looking at the pieces I did and exclaimed "that can't be the one your 
doing it looks to good".

I did not (Except for one test piece) epoxy ash stringers or gunwales. I was 
afraid that epoxy was not as flexible as polyurethane varnish. The sealer 
can said to make sure that plywood ends were completly sealed because a 
thick coating of epoxy can crack. Instead of using say 2 coats of epoxy and 
2 coats of varnish I thought I would be better off with 2 -3 coats of 
varnish here. I was also afraid that the epoxy thickness would really affect 
the way the wood fits into the aluminum channel I'm using. I don't know if 
this is correct or not. Any opinions anyone?

5. I haven't finished details (brass pieces, wood reinforcemnt) on all my 
cross frames, because like I suspected the thickness of the varnish now 
makes the one cross frame I completely finished a  really tight fit, so I'll 
resand where it wedges between the bottom and be careful on the other 
pieces.

6. I only have a maximum of two coats of varnish on at this point. I suppose 
I should get a finer grit of sand paper, say 320 before the last coat. I'm 
planning to do up to four coats on the plywood.

Good luck,
Paul

>I have Nautiraid kayak whose frame will need a new
>varnish job done before next season. I am planning to
>strip old varnish off, and put epoxy instead. Can
>anyone tell me if this is a good idea? If not, what
>can I use to restore the frame of my kayak?
>
>Pawel Palkiewicz


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