finish for a plywood boat????????

hello, my name is Bob, I am building a plywood
dinghy type pram.

I need some help deciding what to use for a finish?

varnish?....paint ?....expoxy???

any help would be greatly appreciated.....

[tom28571]

Bob,

First we'd need to know what kind of plywood it is. Fir plywood is, to most eyes, decidedly unpretty when varnished. If its is some other type and has a nice grain pattern and is going to be stored under cover ... and you like bright finish, you can varnish it. My personal preference is for paint on the outside and inside bottom and varnish on most of the rest. Sealing with epoxy or CPES (a very thin penetrating epoxy) will make the varnish or paint last longer.

Lots of opinions around, these are mine.

Some sages just slather on latex house paint and extole its virtues.

[Matthew]

I prefer not to fully coat with epoxy both sides as I feel this can cause problems later.
We often epoxy the outside but paint the insides of our boats (www.swallowboats.com).
The problem with completely sealing the wood in epoxy is that when it inevitably becomes chipped, the water will be absorbed very quickly through the hole into the dry wood. When it comes to drying out, it takes the wood a long time to get rid of the moisture through the original small chipped hole.
Having said this, however, many people do fully epoxy coat their plywood, with no apparent problems, so maybe we're being a bit careful.

One other thing to bear in mind is that epoxy doesnt like sunlight, so you have to paint on top of it if you live somewhere hot and it will be exposed a lot. Phone the manufacturers of your resin to find out more (some paints wont go on over epoxy)

[Pelican]

100% acrylic latex. Cheap, wears well, easy clean up, fast drying, easy touch-up.

Oh yea, if you prefer enamel go to Lowes and get Professionals Choice. Runs about 22 bucks a gallon. Made by Valspar and is as good as most any topside paint.