Le Tonkinois

[STEPHEN MILLER]

Does anybody know if you can get Le Tonkinois varnish in australia and if you can who sells it. Have seen it on the net looks like good stuff would like to try on the gunwhales of the boat somethings got to better than Deks Olje etc

[Boatmik]

Hi Stephen,

I had a look on the net for you (which you probably did yourself too. No luck at all.

The reason there is a lot of discussions on different forums around the world about just this topic is because there is no neat solution. Just ones that the user dislikes less than the others.

Unless you just give up the fight and accept the fact that it is inconvenient and messy! Then no worries whatever you use.

I'll pass on a general secret - I have spent many years doing just this sort of work professionally - year in - year out with all different boats with different products. If I may I will tell you what I have learned.

1/ The main place people go wrong is thinking that two or three coats of clear finish will do it. Generally cans say 6. For doing new wood or a stripped piece I'd go all the way with that and do a few more for good measure. And I'm really careful when sanding after the first couple of coats to make sure I don't go through on the corners by sanding that part to hard. Scotchbrite pads or the special sanding scotchbrite pads made by 3M work nicely for anything tightly radiused making it matte but not going through the surface.

2/ The varnishing should be a yearly job. Or be done the first moment you discover it has started to break down if it is shorter than a year. If you wait even one moment longer the wood will be damaged and you will have to strip the lot and start again from scratch. If it starts to break down before the year is up it means the 6 to 8 coats of what you were using initially were not enough - if they were not enough the product doesn't work very well or hasn't been applied properly. A lot of varnishes that are OK in England and other less sunny climes fall to bits quickly in Australia.

3/ Annual recoats probably don't need to be the full 6 to 8 coats. If you are very careful not to sand through (unless to repair a damaged section - and then build up that area with the 6 to 8 coats then sand it flat to match the rest of the surface and put a final finishing coat over the whole thing) then 3 solid coats will be enough.

4/ The thing that cuts down varnish maintenance more than any other single thing is a cover over the boat. Keeping the sun off the boat will make the varnish last 2 to 3 times longer.

So that's the good news!

MIK

[STEPHEN MILLER]

Thanks Mik, had looked on the net have found it in UK at 17.50 pound s Sterling per Litre plus shipping around 34 pound Sterling pricy so I will probably use Goldspar as I have done in the past.
The transom on the boat is done with Goldspar which has 10 coats and is done yearly, the cockpit is all Goldspar as well but both areas are covered. Handrails are West System 207 then varnished and get done every year.
The gun whales and handrails are a to hard to cover on 30' of boat so I will continue with current practice was just looking for an alternative that might be a bit less work.

[Boatmik]

Hi Stephen

OUCH - that is somewhat expensive!

I generally go with the goldspar too - even though it is a bit slow drying it seems to have really excellent UV properties.

Sounds like you have done everything I suggested anyhow - thought that you probably knew your stuff but wrote it out for anyone else that may be lurking.

I didn't mention that 3 coats of 'pox plus varnish is even better though it might just be a matter of the total surface thickness.

Epoxy must be at least varnished for all those who don't know.

MIK