We would suggest being cautious when you use anything other than diluted detergent as anything with a bleaching agent will lift the colour of any material, including hard wood. There’s no one-size-fits-all solution, and the boat owner who finds gratification in the wet, glossy look of a two-part varnish borne of painstaking preparation and careful application will weigh our test data much differently than the one who regards brightwork maintenance as a masochistic endeavor. For the latter, we recommend seeking out a varnish alternative (easy to apply, easy to maintain) that suits your tastes. With modest maintenance, the Cetol products with gloss overcoats have proven to be the most durable.

When it comes to application, spar varnish is applied to a surface with the aid of a soft white bristle brush and it requires at least one day for it to dry between coats –this will of course rely on the type of climate. Also, a number of thin coats are needed to accomplish a solid surface.

The last product featured on our list is Miniwax’s one-part polyurethane spar varnish. While not the most beautiful finish available, this product is durable (hard and abrasion-resistant), easy to use, and very affordable, making it a good choice for touching up one-part varnishes inside a boat’s cabin. A greater potential for sun damage in certain geographic locations, such as the Caribbean, may make it necessary for this maintenance task to be done more than once a season. A good way to tell if you need to re-coat is when the surface begins to lose its water-beading ability.

Created originally as a finish for Teak wood furniture, this oil does a brilliant job at nourishing and enhancing otherwise drab-looking wood grain. However, it needs to be stated that this oil finish is not a 100% waterproof sealant. Regardless, it still does everything you need a wood finish to do, in that it; This spar varnish is highly practical to utilize for exterior wood surfaces on top of the waterline, in railings, trim as well as wood furniture. It comes with an oil-based formulation that allows it to expand and contract with altering weather conditions. Using the right brush is one of the most important ways to get a smooth, beautiful finish. The other is having the right technique. But all the technique in the world won’t help if you don’t have the right brush. Try painting your house with a push broom. You’ll get paint on the surface, but it won’t look good. The same holds true for applying finish coats of varnish with a foam brush, because even though foam brushes don’t leave brush marks, they tend to introduce more bubbles. Small bubbles can be sanded out of build coats, but not finish coats. According to marine varnish review, TotalBoat is one of the most trusted brands for marine grade varnish products. And, one of its varieties is the Halcyon Gloss Marine Varnish that is highly acclaimed for being long-lasting, hard, comes with lustrous finish brightwork that is not complicated to tidy up and is low maintenance.

Teak and other woods must be (unavoidable cliche alert) "squeaky" clean before any type of wood finish is applied–especially varnish. Cleaning teak brings out the grain and creates the best mechanical bond for your first coat of varnish. A hardwood garden bench is an ideal investment in your garden and one that you will use time and time again. But you want to protect it; That’s not to say that Teak oil won’t require a fair amount of maintenance too. It absolutely does. If you use Teak oil on outdoor surfaces, then be prepared to reapply it every 3-6 months.

The test was designed as an endurance test, a fight to the finish, so we have not done any maintenance coats or touch-ups to the test panels. These products can be expected to have much longer lifespans if they are regularly maintained. How We’re Rating the Marine VarnishesNeedless to say, marine varnish products these days come in not-so-affordable costs, reason why it is critical to select the one that surely lasts so you don’t end up spending more in the end. But, the real question here is, “which marine varnish is right for your vessel’s needs?” Protecting your garden bench from the elements can be as simple as flinging a protective cover over the top but taking further steps will help too. Some people paint their garden benches but most of our customers buy our hardwood benches to enjoy the look and feel of wood. So why hide it? The main reason woods like teak, mahogany, and white oak are so often used on boats is because they’re dense, strong, and decay-resistant. Which makes them durable enough to withstand the harsh conditions they’re exposed to at sea. But prolonged exposure to salt, sun, water, and pollution without protection can eventually break down even naturally oily woods like teak, turning them from golden and glowing to gray and weathered, and even causing structural damage. To remove an old finish, you will need either a good quality paint or varnish stripper or, if you have one and are confident in using it, a heat gun.