Good morning everyone,
Last year I built a Sapele/Maple table top for a friend’s boat. I also used a local maker space CNC to route in a compass rose, which I later filled in with died epoxy. After waiting several days for the epoxy to cure and doing all the final sanding, the entire table top and bottom received 7 coats of marine-grade spar varnish, and then a high gloss rub with automotive rubbing compound and wax. It looked great, if I do say so myself.
Fast forward one year and my friend says it looks like there’s some “bubbling” of the finish (my friend’s words). I haven’t yet seen the issue with my own eyes, but he did send me some pics attached. Hope to have a look at this in the next couple of weeks
This is my first build for a marine application, and this was also my first time using died epoxy as a filler. Based on the pics, does this look like a finish problem, or perhaps a curing issue with the epoxy?
Any thoughts? I am not afraid of stripping and redoing the finish, but I don’t want to repeat a mistake and have this happen all over again.
Cheers,
Erick
Replies
I may be wrong, but based on those images it appears that the bubbling is happening over the dyed epoxy. If that's the case, then I'd guess the varnish doesn't play nice with the epoxy. If you sand it down, you may want to consider finishing with an epoxy table top finish which will bond with the epoxy and the wood equally well.
Looks like a compatability issue with the epoxy. Check with the manufacturer for approved overcoats. Nice table BTW.
Hello all,
Well, I've checked with the manufacturer of the finish (Total Boat), and they are confident the issue I'm seeing is not related to compatibility with epoxy, but they also didn't have a good explanation for the issue.
I still haven't gotten the table back from my customer (a friend). I hope to have a better idea of the issue when I can see the issue first hand.
Thanks for the feedback above. I'll come back with more information (and possibly more questions) in the near future.
Cheers,
Erick
I made a table out of oak for my sailboat. Put on 6 layers of Minwax spar varnish. Several years later, no issues. But I didn't have any epoxied portions. Boat only used in sweet water if that makes a difference.
The trouble spots are only where the epoxy and spar varnish meet. As mentioned above, you might need to refinish to an epoxy topcoat to get compatibility.
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