epoxy

[mdoughty]

Hi everyone. Doing a little work on a friends boat replacing some bulkheads and was wondering if epoxy would penetrate soft wood if it was coated with a waterbase stain. thanks

[gonzo]

Are you asking about softwood like pine or there is rot? Are you sure about the type of stain? Varnish is often referred to as stain by house painters.

The water soluble stains do not effect epoxy. Though it does not "penetrate" wood very deep anyway. (and it must not)

So, if your wood is sound and not soft due to rot, you have no problem. I doubt that your bulkheads are made if softwood btw.

Regards
Richard

[PAR]

Rather then attempt to answer, I'll ask; what year, make and model boat are you working on? Which bulkhead? Are you sure it's softwood or is it plywood?

As a rule epoxy isn't affected to much by stains. If the stain is dry and it's not a stain/sealer (very common in household projects) it will probably take epoxy. Of course, you can improve adhesion by scraping, sanding, etc.

Testing has shown, you might lose as much as 5% peel strength if over a stain, but considering the tremendous amount of peel strength epoxy has on most substrates, this isn't a big concern.

[mydauphin]

Make sure it is a stain and not oil or polyurethane varnish. It is best to sand it off as much as possible just in case. Obviously we are not talking rotten or wet wood here.

When I got this right:

>>>>coated with a waterbase stain<<<<

and translate it to using the classical water soluble powder stains, there are no issues with epoxy.

[mdoughty]

The wood is pine. the boat is a small overniter home made strip,epoxy cabin cruiser.He hauls out all winter so gets condensation.still wants to use pine so I thought maybe a light water base stain to get color he wants then encapsulate in epoxy.

[PAR]

You may want to consider tinting the epoxy instead, though a stain will work. It's important you use a real stain, not stain/sealer, such as the Min-Wax products.