Awlwood MA Clear Finish - High performance Exterior Clear Coat

Hi All,

a bit over 14 months ago we stripped back the old varnish and recoated using the Awlwood system, so I thought I would share a few photo's with you taken yesterday. Conditions could have been better just after some rain here in Sydney.
I am really happy with the finish, which is not covered and we have travelled over 3,000 miles with this since completed. We had a little shrink back ( the dimple in the grain) showed thru in an area at the bow , but other than that she is a mirror finish.
Varnishers are starting to use this here now in Australia, as you are aware we have very severe UV conditions, so gives it a good test.

I've just done my foredeck rails with Awlwood MA as well.
The local wooden boat building school has been using it for about a year now, they like it because they can apply it in humid or damp conditions.
I'm impressed with your rails, the UVs down here really gives conventional varnish a workout.
I've got plenty of teak railing to do so I hope it works well.

Yeh it's a great product and you can build coats quickly , and seems to be flexible, yet resistant to scratching etc.

I am very impressed with it, especially when compared to the old traditional varnishes and clears on the market.

Cheers Chris D Liberty Australia

Chris
Good to see that it is holding up really well to date. As you know I was intending on using it, but I have gone with Deks Olje instead. Reason? The main one was that AwlWood was not that easy to source. The manufacturer, Azko Nobel, has their warehouse about a kilometer from where I live. I phoned them and found them to be particularly unhelpful. Sure I'm familiar with the 'wholesale only' policy some have and that didn't bother me. But they could not tell me of any retailers in Brisbane who stocked it, simply said go to Whitworths or Bunnings. Now either could get it as a special order and were happy to do so. But my thoughts were that if it really was any good then they would stock it and promote it.

There is a yard I know that does use it and they say its great. But I'm sure that is in part due to the ability to apply multiple coats quickly in more tolerant conditions than some alternatives. To me that feature is a positive but not a major one although I can see it as a huge benefit in a commercial setting.

My detailer might source some for me to try on a couple of sections of rail. For me the jury is out on the product, but I wont do much with it until it is more readily available.

I continue to use oil based varnish. I've used lots of McCloskey's spar varnish on the boat. I decided to try Epifanes on a table for the house. It drys w 85% humidity at 50 degrees F but is very viscous to brush. First two coats had considerable turpentine but the third w almost no turp was thick. Going to add some Penetrol for the next coat.

What is Awlwood MA? As w most of these tech coatings not much mention of what it is is ever offered. Polyurethane, Epoxy, Oil based, water based or what?

Manufacturer information here

http://www.awlgrip.com/products/varnishes/awlwood-ma.aspx

What kind of coverage is there with the primer and gloss?

dkasprzak,
"Clear coating" is all I see. Thanks anyway.

Hi Brian,

Yes getting the product in Australia , is like to trying to find Hens teeth. We had trouble when doing our project , and had to purchase some from another varnisher. Some of the big superyachts here are starting to switch over and yes every one is waiting to see how it lasts.

Cheers Chris D Liberty

manyboats said:

dkasprzak,
"Clear coating" is all I see. Thanks anyway.

Click to expand...

Eric
Attached is the MSDS. It may help - or not. Depends how much into chemistry you are.

manyboats said:

I continue to use oil based varnish. I've used lots of McCloskey's spar varnish on the boat. I decided to try Epifanes on a table for the house. It drys w 85% humidity at 50 degrees F but is very viscous to brush. First two coats had considerable turpentine but the third w almost no turp was thick. Going to add some Penetrol for the next coat.

What is Awlwood MA? As w most of these tech coatings not much mention of what it is is ever offered. Polyurethane, Epoxy, Oil based, water based or what?

Click to expand...

Eric , we have found that we need to thin Epifanes regardless of number of coats . We always use their thinner and for what it's worth we use their brushes as well .When varnish doesn't work for me it always seems to boil down to temperature, humidity or not thinned enough or a bad attitude when applying.

Brian,
It's amazing that all those words can be presented w/o simply telling what the stuff is. No I'm not into chemestry enough to know what they are talking about. I'm always suspicious about products that hide their identity. There are many good products that present themselves in this mysterious manner but most of the snake oil products are (out of necessity) limited in what they can disclose about what they are. What if W-D40 was basically kerosene. They probably would'nt want that known. What if AWLwood was basically oil based like tried and proven varnish? People will buy anything that presented as new and high tech ... it's the vouge thing to do. But frequiently these products have side effects (like epoxy's slow curing) or very thin (low build) coating thickness. Or are dificult to apply. There was a time when paint like products could be identified as part of a family of chemistry that identified them as to chacteristics and useability.
Manufacturers usually keep things a mystery for a reason. This Awlwood product is almost certianly a good product but all finishes have their limitations and whenever I use a product I like to know, or at least have an idea of what those limitations and characteristics are.

Marty see your PM.

Any updates on how Awlwood is lasting?

I am about to bite the bullet on my Cheoy Lee 66. A lot of varnish to do and back to wood on much of it.

lelievre12 said:

Any updates on how Awlwood is lasting?

I am about to bite the bullet on my Cheoy Lee 66. A lot of varnish to do and back to wood on much of it.

Click to expand...

Hi Chris off Liberty Here, we are coming up to 4 years now and the adhesion and colour of the base is still fantastic. We do over coat with 2 pack each year( 2 coats )to bring back the super gloss and assist in maintaining the finish. We have had a little break down were we have a mitred epoxy joint on the corners of the cock pit where some moisture has got in , but we just repair this as required.

overall I would say the finish is to expectations as this point, will be interesting to see eventually how long we get out of it.

I will take some photo's this weekend and post and you can compare to the photo's taken just over 3 years ago above.

Cheers Chris D Liberty 2015 Australia

Hi Pete, Our Awlwood rails have held up really well for 3 years now, other systems haven't lasted near as well. We've been pretty lazy with regards to upkeep on the Awlwood (as in nothing), still looks great. Just the rest of the boat to go now.