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Posted by gmharris [71.105.47.144] on Friday, December 10, 2010 at 14:21:37 :
In Reply to: for those interested in epoxy resin posted by clueless [201.202.25.26] on Friday, December 10, 2010 at 00:40:21 :
I learned a lot from maintaining the wood on the sail boat I had for 20 years.
I learned that the sun will eat up any wood coating if given enough time. The only real solution is to keep the wood out of the sun.
Epoxy coatings last the longest, but are the most difficult to remove when it comes time to refinish them. Oil-like coatings last the shortest time but are the easiest to touch up.
High quality marine varnish with UV protectors is probably the best compromise. It looks great and will last up to six months in the hot California sun.
Varnish is fairly easy to sand and re-coat. As soon as the gloss begins to fade, then it is time to re-coat varnish. If you wait until it begins to peel, you will have to strip varnish down to bare wood.
If you keep your truck indoors, varnish should last years. If you don't need the clear look of varnish, the longest lasting coating for wood is high-quality marine paint.
If you go to a large marine store like West Marine, you will see just about every variety of wood protectant there is. Sailors have been fighting the battle to preserve wood for centuries.