Varnish Over Paint?

[John R]

I am working on the restoration of a sailboat (Snipe, but not Thompson-built). Originally the cypress hull had a natural varnish finish, but the 60-year old wood is not in good enough condition to varnish after sanding (rust stains, dings, uneven surfaces which will be faired with epoxy). I plan to fiberglass the hull using epoxy resin, then paint with alkyd primer and gloss enamel (house paint) in a color that simulates wood. Don't laugh about the house paint idea! The subject was covered in a WoodenBoat magazine article a few years ago, it is basically the same formula as marine alkyd hull enamel but not as much hardener is used, also there is a wide choice of custom mix colors - and a lot less expensive. But since the color is close to varnished wood colors but does not have the "highlights" I was thinking about applying several coats of high quality marine spar varnish (Epifanes or similar) over the final paint finish. Any comments? Has anyone tried this before with success? My thought is that it would provide a hard, mar-resistant glossy finish that would give "honey-tone" highlights to the finish, while achieving the desired natural wood varnished color.

[Phill Blank]

John,

My only concern would be if the varnish would bite onto the alkyd paint surface for good adhesion.
I guess you would just have to try it on some samples and see how it performs.
You might try contacting the paint manufacturer and see what they say about it.

Good luck,

Phill

[John R]

I would lightly wet-sand the paint surface (400 grit) before applying the varnish and between coats of varnish, to improve adherence to the paint surface. By the way, I would only attempt to do this if the paint color was "compatible" with honey-color varnish, otherwise a streaked, off-color finish would result.