Can you varnish over paint. i.e. once international paint has cured then coat wit varnish.

Don't panic, not on a Merlin

what about clear coat?

what you mean?

Have not been very clear. Basically I have repainted the decks of an old boat with International Brightside 5/6 coats. Is there any need to apply a varnish coat or 3 over this for extra protection? If you can, is International Goldspar OK?

Thanks

Can't see why not.

It's the same principal as laquering car paints.

An old trick was to mix 20-25% varnish in with the last gloss top coat. I dont know if in this day&age you still need to. Barry.

Won't it look a bit yellow? Like the drips of varnish you see coming down from the gunwhale onto the hull, on some boats...

good point batman.

Think I will give the varnish a miss!!

How about a coat of International Japlac clear? I have just used this on some hand-rails on my cruiser and it looks great! It's hard wearing too, been using it on rudder and centreboard of the kids Cadet for the past couple of years

Dave,

Now there's a thought.

The reason I wan't to coat the paint is to try and void too many dinks. If there is a protective barrier like Japlac this would take the brunt of the wear.

Thanks

Of course you can varnish over paint in fact that is how the deep gloss of proper yachts like Brittania is/was achieved also smart cars like Bentley's that do not need metallic ppaints to look smart.Good Grp builders use a clear gel before the colour to make polishing out scratches easier too.(especially in the darker colours.) They also use a UV filtered varnish.

AG strikes again!

Thanks AG.

Richard,

I was surprised how hard-wearing Japlac it's east to apply on a flat surface but it's prone to run on vertical one, certainly it can be buffed and polished once it's cured.

Dave

Adding varnish doesent to the final gloss doesent mean you get yellow drips, it mixes with the pigment of the colur you add it to so if you let it 'drip' you will get drips of that colour. Albeit shinny ones!  Have fun, Barry.

No it doesn't barry is right and it may be a halfway house to finishing the gloss coat and then clear varnishing over the top which was/is still the coach-builders -traditional yacht finishers way.

Having said all that I did not mention the colour........ it's white!! The finish would have to be a clear varnish like Japlac as say Goldspar would give a slighly yellow tinge, would it not? I think a little test run is called for!

I'm told by my man "Sideways" who's been painting since before Michaelangelo that it works with white! Apparently there are so many whites anyway, but "Best not to use a dark copal varnish".

Model makers sometimes advocate brushing 'Krystal Clear' (spelt like that I think) as a top coat over a brushed or sprayed finish.   Commercially it is sold as a domestic floor polish but is apparently really a very low viscosity acrylic varnish.   It does indeed give a good finish without affecting the colour but I don't know how durable it is to wear, although it is made to stand feet on, or how resistant to UV it is......or does it wash off in water!

Has anyone tried it on a boat?