Silvan,

Two points - from your OWN words,
1} "spar urethane"
2} "really looked beautiful . . . for about two years"
2a} "poly'ed the hell out of it"

A good quality Varnish is NOT a urethane. While it may be a polymer of
'modern' materials rather than the 'traditional' resins, it is STILL a
VARNISH. Typically, they come it two 'styles' - WITH UV additives for
outdoor use, and WITHOUT for indoor applications. The 'traditional' SPAR
varnish had natural UV protection.

Any varnish used in an outdoor application needs to be 'freshened'
periodically. When wooden boats were in their heyday, the 'workboat' was
almost always painted, while the 'yachtsman' had a crew to not only work the
boat, but maintain it. Varnishing the 'brightwork' was probably an almost
continuous 'cycle'

Today's boat owner, wooden or fiberglass with a lot of 'fancy trim', may
typically look at this as a 'Rite of Spring'; something to be done prior to
the seasonal launching. {there are a lot of other tricks, covers, etc. that
he may go through . . . have about 3 hours to discuss it ??}. This chore may
be annual, or something done less frequently, depending on the 'sun load'
from the location.

Bear in mind, a top quality 'varnish job' has a MINIMUM of 6 coats. It is
unconsciously 'inspected' by eye {and by touch} almost every time you go
aboard. Some high-end, custom-built yachts may have 12 coats. Other than the
obvious 'depth' to the finish, this also makes 'freshening' prep much
easier. Rather than a complete stripping down to bare wood, a light sanding
with 220 paper followed by a wipe down with mineral spirits is all that is
needed. A thin coat of slightly thinned varnish completes the job. Another
technique is to LIGHTLY draw a scraper over the surface. A long curl of old
varnish *should* peel right off.

The real key to all this is to do the job BEFORE the surface reaches the, ".
.. . cracked, yellowed-lined, completely deteriorated . . ." stage.

Regards & Good Luck,
Ron Magen
Backyard Boatshop

"Silvan" wrote in message
...
Preston Andreas wrote:

With a spar urethane, you would have cracking and flaking of the finish
in
a
year or two requiring sanding and refinishing. I would use a premium
deck

Bigtime. I used that minwhacks spar urethane stuff on a mystery wood park
bench. Looked really beautiful. For about two years...

I sanded it out, but did not completely strip it. I roughed up the finish
a
bit with various grades of steel wool and built up a new finish one thin
coat at a time over a couple of weeks until I had poly'ed the hell out of
it.

Looked really beautiful. For about two years...

Now it looks like utter hell. Cracking, flaking, and lots of
discoloration.

I think I'm going to sand it and paint it, or else strip it entirely and
throw some Thompson's on it periodically.