Is nothing sacred?

[Prashun Patel]

I bought some Cabot's Spar Varnish yesterday thinking I could make a nice oil/varnish blend for a current project. I opened it up, and it STUNK like never before. Examination of the label showed no change in formulation.

It smells exactly like PCBTF, which I believe is what's in the new Waterlox Original VOC compliant formulation.

Besides the odor, it does NOT apply well at all, and I'm wiping.

I confirmed online that they do indeed offer two formulations that have different voc content.

I'm unsure why they needed to do that.

[Mel Fulks]

I recently bought turpentine that has a bad smell. They are changing everything.

[Mike Hollingsworth]

from here in California:

Start squirelling away your favorite oil products!

[Alan Lightstone]

Still twitching from my experience with Low VOC Waterlox.

Never again. Will pry the regular cans from my cold, dead hands.

[Mike Goetzke]

I noticed the same thing with low VOC LiquidNails.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Low VOC = Light Beer.....

No vinegar and all p... ;)


I bought some Cabot's Spar Varnish yesterday thinking I could make a nice oil/varnish blend for a current project. I opened it up, and it STUNK like never before. Examination of the label showed no change in formulation. Too bad you're so far away in NJ.
I'd gladly share a can of my stash of Boat Koat with you.
My wife has been bugging me for years to get rid of it & I keep telling her it's "liquid gold".
If you ever drive out NE Ohio way, shoot me a PM and I fix you up with a gallon or two.
Be warned though - it will really spoil you for anything out there anymore.

Boat Koat was the Epifanes of it's day from 1963 until about 1986.
McCloskys discontinued it when it got too expensive to make & also the VOC restrictions would have made them have to reformulate it.
IIRC, we were selling it for close to $60.00 a gallon - well - not really selling it since no one would buy it at that price - in 1986.
Retail or suggested retail was close to $100 a gallon - in 1986 dollars.
My store manager told me to mark it down to $2.00 a gallon and blow it out, so, I did,,, ;).

[Prashun Patel]

I muscled through the schedule with the OV blend.

TO be fair, while it does indeed smell and doesn't seem to flow as well, I will say that it has produced a decent finish. I guess for an Oil varnish blend, the leveling is not so important since it all gets wiped off eventually. In the end, I think the surface is indistinguishable from the other spar/ov blends I've made. Maybe I just need to change with the times?