by ddemasie on Thu Mar 17, 2016 12:09 pm
I also love the wood look and am leaving a few 'accent' places showing the natural wood.
I am sure you will need to epoxy all of the wood surfaces. Most of them will have a fiberglass coat anyway for strength. In any case, the varnish is not enough to completely seal the wood from water incursion - and getting any moisture in the plywood can be extremely bad for your boat. The Okume/Mahogany plywood is strong and lightweight for boat building, but it is very prone to severe swelling and rot if it gets wet. You'll need at least 2 coats of epoxy to keep the wood water tight.
Sand them down, then add the varnish coats on top of the epoxy where you want - if you sand down to 220 or 320 grit, you won't be able to tell there is epoxy there after the varnish - it is that smooth and clear.
Last, make sure you get a varnish that has UV protection - the epoxy will degrade and start cracking and flaking if exposed directly to UV (sunlight). Those exposed areas will need to be examined carefully and perhaps re-coated with varnish every year - that maintenance is why a lot of builders just paint all of the exposed surfaces.
Dennis DeMasie,
Aurora, IL