Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I just wend out in the shop to put another coat of varnish on my galley hatch and slapped my hand down on it to feel the smooth finish (it looked great) and it was still tacky I actually left a perfect hand print on the surface. Some areas seem dry but much of it is tacky

I use varthane spar eurathane - applied almost 30 hours ago! It is the first coat... brushed on over multiple coats of epoxy (RAKA UV Inhibited). The epoxy was at least four or five days old and sanded to 180 grit.

Does anyone know what might be happening here? Is refinishing the only solution? Will stripper damage the epoxy? HELP!

Chuck

Chuck, sorry that this happened to you. There are so many products on the market now that I think your best bet is to call the customer service departments of both the epoxy manufacturer and the Spar urethane company and ask them how to deal with it. They may have more tips and advice than we may be privileged to know.

That sounds bad, I wish I had some expertise to help out. There are definitely a couple guys here who know epoxy though.

Until now, I planned on using the same exact product on my epoxy, which is West Systems. I just read one of the manuals and it recommended a 2 part polyurethane. I am going to have to look into that some more.

DudKC wrote:That sounds bad, I wish I had some expertise to help out. There are definitely a couple guys here who know epoxy though.

Until now, I planned on using the same exact product on my epoxy, which is West Systems. I just read one of the manuals and it recommended a 2 part polyurethane. I am going to have to look into that some more.

Easy for me to say, but I'd relax. Two-bits says its dry tomorrow night. If its dry outside and you can move it, a bit of UV sunlight might make it cure quickly.

I agree with Tony, give it more time.

I've had spar varnish, in the right weather conditions, take several days to dry.

Rob

48Rob wrote:I agree with Tony, give it more time.

I've had spar varnish, in the right weather conditions, take several days to dry.

Rob

Did the next coats also take days to dry or was it just the first one? I was planning on doing 5 coats over my epoxy, that could take 2 weeks if each coat takes a day and a half to dry...

Dustin,

The next coats dried much faster.
The weather was, as I recall, very humid.
It could also have been that I didn't allow enough dry time for the first coat, preventing the second from being able to dry correctly.

Rob

Thanks, I wasn't having too much luck finding 2 part epoxy online. I guess I will proceed as planned. Hopefully Chuck will come back to this thread and update us on his status.

tony.latham wrote:

DudKC wrote:That sounds bad, I wish I had some expertise to help out. There are definitely a couple guys here who know epoxy though.

Until now, I planned on using the same exact product on my epoxy, which is West Systems. I just read one of the manuals and it recommended a 2 part polyurethane. I am going to have to look into that some more.

Easy for me to say, but I'd relax. Two-bits says its dry tomorrow night. If its dry outside and you can move it, a bit of UV sunlight might make it cure quickly.

You Loose Tony

It is less tacky tonight though. At this rate it might be dry in two more days I have used interior varnish a lot and while the four-hour time frame on the can has been overly optimistic, I have never had it take more than eight hours to dry (we are now at 53 and counting).

As Rob said, I have also found that subsequent coats dry faster. At least when using interior varnish.

I really don't want to wait four days for the varnish to dry on the rest of the camper. Has anyone used the water based spar varnish? I have used the interior water based and didn't like the extremely fast dry times... to many brush strokes remained after drying.
I can say the oil based left a fantastically smooth finish.

It did go on a little thick because of the viscosity. Would thinning the first coat help at all?

DudKC wrote:That sounds bad, I wish I had some expertise to help out. There are definitely a couple guys here who know epoxy though.

Until now, I planned on using the same exact product on my epoxy, which is West Systems. I just read one of the manuals and it recommended a 2 part polyurethane. I am going to have to look into that some more.

I used two-part poly on my skin-on-frame kayak and it was very thick (just like epoxy) resulting in lots of runs and drips. It also turned very yellow. Pricey as well. If I can get it to work I would stick with a varnish.

Chuckles wrote:

tony.latham wrote:

DudKC wrote:That sounds bad, I wish I had some expertise to help out. There are definitely a couple guys here who know epoxy though.

Until now, I planned on using the same exact product on my epoxy, which is West Systems. I just read one of the manuals and it recommended a 2 part polyurethane. I am going to have to look into that some more.

Easy for me to say, but I'd relax. Two-bits says its dry tomorrow night. If its dry outside and you can move it, a bit of UV sunlight might make it cure quickly.

You Loose Tony

It is less tacky tonight though. At this rate it might be dry in two more days I have used interior varnish a lot and while the four-hour time frame on the can has been overly optimistic, I have never had it take more than eight hours to dry (we are now at 53 and counting).

As Rob said, I have also found that subsequent coats dry faster. At least when using interior varnish.

I really don't want to wait four days for the varnish to dry on the rest of the camper. Has anyone used the water based spar varnish?

Can you tell me if this is the product you used? I have the water based Varathane, clear gloss. Ignore the little jar next to it, this is just some picture I found online, but this is exactly what I have.

It always seems like the first coat takes a lot longer than subsequent coats. I'm busy using McCloskey Man O' War marine spar to refinish/repair my trailer (fiberglass over wood). It takes right at 6 hours drying time to touch, 24 hours to next coat so it isn't quick...but the finished product looks pretty good. The first coat took almost 12 hours to dry to touch. I think it is pretty unlikely there is a compatibility issue.

Here's to sanding dust nibs

DudKC wrote:
Can you tell me if this is the product you used? I have the water based Varathane, clear gloss. Ignore the little jar next to it, this is just some picture I found online, but this is exactly what I have.

No, I used the oil based version. I have used water based poly (interior) and the dry time is significantly less than oil. The problem I had with water based was the fast dry time. I was getting too many brush strokes and bubbles.

The little jar next to the can is what the varnish looks like straight from the can... it is very milky but it dries clear. Will you be using it soon? If so, let me know how it works. I might just pick some up and try it on the front where I will be applying bed liner for stone protection. That way if I don't like it, no loss, it will be covered up anyways.

I'll probably do my first coat Saturday morning. I'll update this thread Saturday afternoon and let you know how its going.

I wouldn't blame the varnish. You shouldn't have a problem over cured epoxy. I am wondering if you used a "blush free" type of epoxy. If you had blush on the surface that wasn't properly cleaned off, perhaps that could be the problem??