Deks Olje or Varnish?

[Skipper Mark]

I have a boat made from Brunzeel Mahogany and want to finish the inside sides of the hull bright. I have been cautioned against using varnish as it is maintenance intensive. Deks Olje with a Deks Olje gloss finish has been reccomended. Does anyone have any advice?

[Ric@Noah's]

Wooden boats are maintenance intensive. Don?t have any experience with Deks Olge, but 5 or 6 coats of Varnish will stand up well, with reasonable care.

[Mark L]

I believe there are 2 parts to the deck Olge stuff. The first is a oil I believe, that can be used by itself, but does not have the varnish gloss finish since it just soaks into the wood. The 2nd part is a varnish like substance, that will give a varnish like appearance that is applied over the part 1. It will eventually crack and weather, in outdoor applications. I have never used it indoors.

Personally, I like the new Spar Urethanes. The old varnish/urethane battle was varnish flexed, so it was suitable for boat applications that needed to flex ( spars and decks ) but didn't last long in the sun. urethane was the space age plastic, but had terrible flex properties, so why it was fine for your dinner table at home, it sucked on decks and spars since when the wood flexed, it cracked and flaxed off. Spar urethane is more flexible, but lasts longer in the sun and weather in my oppinion. Actually, I think you might have a hard time finding real varnish any more. Many products labeled varnish are actually urethane.

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