Varnishing hand rails.

[Bill]

My hand rails are varnished and need to be redone. I can remove them, and clean them over the winter but can I varnish them? The problem is, if I varnish them over the winter, what do I do with the plugs? Do I varnish the plugs as well and then put them in? Do I install the varnished rails with the unvarnished plugs and then just varnish the plugs, or do I just have to reinstall and do the varnishing of everything on the boat? So much easier if I can do it at home.
I know, better to oil but I like the way they look varnished.
Thanks for any insight.
Bill



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[Bill Jarvis]

Bill,

The varnish is there to seal the wood. You can certainly remove the rails and varnish the bottoms (multiple coats?. Re-install in the spring, plug and then varnish the rest. The key thing is to have the wood totally encapsulated. If you want you could do the whole rail over the winter and then install and then do the plugs but you will need to do the whole top surface for it to look good.

Bill

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[Bill]

Thanks Bill. That is what I thought.

Bill

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[DAVID Fletcher]

Out of interest has anybody coated their teak with clear west epoxy and then varnished. It is reported to look good and really protect the teak

Fletch

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[cghubbell]

Not on hand rails, but I am half-way through doing it on the cockpit teak slats.  I did it first to the middle removable section last winter and it made the badly weathered wood look almost like new (had to clean/bleach first, of course).  The epoxy fills the weathered depressions MUCH faster than varnish, and dries much faster as well, saving huge amounts of time.  It also bonds to the wood in a way that varnish just can't.  With newer wood in good condition I probably wouldn't go to the trouble to strip it down and do this, but if you have really weathered wood already exposed to restore it's great.

   -Chris (1992 F-310)

[Bill]

I wrote to Rich at Mariners Workshop and he recommends epoxy first to seal wood. Says it lasts 6 years.

Bill

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[Bill]

By the way, Rich recommends a product called Honey Teak. Anyone ever use it?

Bill

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On Aug 14, 2017, at 6:43 AM, cghubbell <cghu...@gmail.com> wrote:

[B F-405]

I wouldn't do it either. IMHO varnish just doesn't hold up in sun. Looks great year 1 but goes downhill fast, and a PITA to completely remove. One nick from a dropped winch handle or beer can and the wood is exposed. I used Cetol with great results. 3 coats of light followed by 2 coats of clear. Religiously recoat every year, immediately touch up any nicks and it will last forever. Oil the floors. Varnish and Cetol both too slippery with any water.