How to refinish Titanic deck chair with Spar Varnish / Epoxy finish

Well, it's been almost 5 years that my Titanic deck chair has been sitting outside in the Florida sun / rain. But now, it's showing wear and needs to be refinished.
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Mind you, it looks considerably better than the ones at the bottom of the North Atlantic, I'm sure, but not better than the one in the museum in Nova Scotia that's truly an original and has been sitting on display for years.
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The finish is System 3 epoxy with Epifanes Spar Varnish on top of it. This was Charles Neal's suggestion (RIP Charles), as the most durable he could think of for my environment. Indeed the finish has lasted almost 5 years, but now it's time to refinish it.

My questions is how do you do that?

I'm likely not going to do this myself, as I just don't have the time and patience for it, but I want to make sure a professional is using the right approach.

Then, what should they refinish it with? Spar varnish again? Will they have to go down to the bare wood to redo this?

Alan, got any photos of how it looks now? If the finish is just dull with no cracks, blisters, or light colored areas, then you could just sand it with 220 or 320 grit and add another couple of coats of Epifanes, no big deal. Epifanes says you are supposed to add at least one maintenance coat every year, so if you didn't do that it's remarkable you got 5 years out of it. If you have cracks and blisters then those areas have to be taken down to at least the primer and to bare wood if there are black spots in the primer. Depending upon how much surface area needs to be dealt with will determine if you should just strip everything off and start over from the beginning.

Assuming it doesn't require complete stripping then you need to stick with the same products for the rehab.

John

Here's a few. Light wasn't great, but I think the damage is obvious.
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Yep, when you don't do the recommended yearly maintenance you end up with a big job at some point. I know from experience. I don't see much alternative except to strip it all off and start over. I'm not sure but it looks like there might be some mold growing, too. If so, you may have to kill that in addition if stripping the finish doesn't take care of it. Good luck. Looks like a time consuming job unless someone has a commercial stripping tank in your area.

I recommend you consider keeping a cover over it after it's all nice and pretty again. I've had to do zero maintenance in the past 3 or 4 years since I started keeping a cover over my Epifanes finished bench. Two rehabs made me search for a better option, and the cover was it.

John

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Originally Posted by John TenEyck

Yep, when you don't do the recommended yearly maintenance you end up with a big job at some point. I know from experience. I don't see much alternative except to strip it all off and start over. I'm not sure but it looks like there might be some mold growing, too. If so, you may have to kill that in addition if stripping the finish doesn't take care of it. Good luck. Looks like a time consuming job unless someone has a commercial stripping tank in your area.

I recommend you consider keeping a cover over it after it's all nice and pretty again. I've had to do zero maintenance in the past 3 or 4 years since I started keeping a cover over my Epifanes finished bench. Two rehabs made me search for a better option, and the cover was it.

John

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Unfortunately, moving, retirement, and a pandemic got in the way of that. Interestingly, it really looked good until this year, then is going down rapidly. My initial game plan was to tie a rope to it, throw it in the bay, and take it out in 10 years and auction it off as a newly discovered 8th surviving chair from the Titanic. I guess that game plan is kaput. ;):mad:

How will this work with a few coats of epoxy under the spar varnish? Can that be chemically stripped off, or is it a mind-boggling amount of intricate sanding?

Some strippers will strip epoxy, some won't. I'd start with one that won't and hope that the underlying epoxy is OK. If you know that it's not OK then get a stripper that's rated to remove epoxy, too. The Epifanes should come off pretty easily. The epoxy I'm not so sure about. Might take several applications and/or a lot of contact time to work.

FWIW, your saga of how it goes down hill in a hurry is consistent with my experience. It looked perfect for two years, not bad after 3, and terrible at 4 years. Of course, had I applied a yearly maintenance coat, it likely never would have needed a rehab. Took me two go arounds before I believed it. Doh.

John

Alan, a beautiful looking mahogany chair.

I have a Mahogany front door that faces south west in North Carolina that’s finished with Epifanes. Generally, the first clue that the film is starting to go down hill is the reduction of gloss, the finish is telling you, I need another coat or two.

FWIW, the best I can get with Epifanes is 5 years in NC, so 5 years in Florida sounds pretty good.

I called System Three, asking what to use to remove the S-1 Clear Penetrating Epoxy Sealer. Their tech support said that they doubted I would need to. Typically just removing the spar varnish would be fine, as it is doubtful that the epoxy was damaged. Interesting. Hopefully true.

I called a local refinishing place that has some nice repairs in their web site gallery. Sent them a picture of the chair. Was told that they'd call me back in an hour. Nope. So I guess have to keep looking.

Jasco Premium Paint & Epoxy Remover seems that it would do the job if I needed to remove the penetrating epoxy. But, typical nasty stuff (methylene chloride, Methanol, etc...).

What's a good chemical stripper that will just remove the spar varnish? Really don't want to do this myself, but I might try that to see what it looks like underneath.

Alan, that Jasco stripper you mentioned likely is no longer available. Methylene chloride was banned from strippers and sales ended last November, IIRC. Nearly any stripper should remove the varnish. I can't offer a recommendation, though, since the one I really liked contained MC and is no longer available.

John

Quote:

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Originally Posted by John TenEyck

Alan, that Jasco stripper you mentioned likely is no longer available. Methylene chloride was banned from strippers and sales ended last November, IIRC. Nearly any stripper should remove the varnish. I can't offer a recommendation, though, since the one I really liked contained MC and is no longer available.

John

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Ugh. Not sure if the others can remove epoxy. Although, if System Three is right, I don't need to, or want to.

Well, some good news. I cleaned off the chair with some water, and found that most of the awful looking stuff was surface grime. That being said, it still needs to be refinished. Not really in the mood to do this myself, but the couple of companies I contacted blew me off after sending them pictures.

Does it just need light sanding and a couple of coats of spar varnish?

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Like you, I hate refinishing. The thought of sanding into all those corners and inside places stops me cold. I'd seriously consider building a new one. Building new furniture is big fun. Refinishing is zero fun.

So, all the local refinishers have blown me off after seeing pictures of the chair, so it's clearly my project now. The good news is that the finish is in much better shape than I thought.

My game plan is for light sanding (is 220 grit the right choice here?) followed by brushing on Epifanes Marine Spar Varnish. I'm thinking that I'll have to thin the Epifanes a little to brush it on (I can't remember how I originally did it). A few coats later, and hopefully I'll be good for another year or so.

Is this a reasonable game plan? To just sand a little and overcoat the varnish with a few more coats?

Alan - That is a really nice looking deck chair. I was looking at Epifanes Q&A page, FWIW, they recommend using a heat gun and a variety of scrapers. This is a very late reply - I hope your project went/is going well. cheers...
https://www.epifanes.com/page/q_and_a

I finished the refinishing. Not thrilled with it. I chose to lightly sand then overcoat the chair. At first I used the Epifanes and truly hated it. When I switched to the System 3 spar varnish it was much easier, and I didn't fight with bubbles which was a losing battle for me with the Epifanes.

The chair will be OK outside for a few years now, but I really would have liked a professional refinisher to take it down to the wood and get a great finish on it. Once I sent pictures of the chair to local companies, they didn't return my phone calls or e-mails. Ah, what businesses have degenerated to.