# Anybody elsed have trouble with Bristol Finish?



## SoulVoyage (May 9, 2010)

For how expensive Bristol Finish is compared to an outstanding varnish like Epiphanes, I was expecting stellar results after spending the bucks and applying Bristol Finish to ALL my teak and mahogany work.

The company documentation lends one to believe that it should last at least 2-3 years if in a temperate non-tropical environment.

The Bristol I put on (8 coats) my toe-rails, dorade-boxes, grab-rails started degrading on horizontal surfaces in less than a year...first getting small white blemishes, and then these blemishes got progressively larger as the original blemishes opened up further to the elements. And I am not talking just a few places, but ALL horizontal surfaces. And I followed every instruction during application.

For 2 months, the Bristol did indeed look fantastic, and I was very proud of myself andf thought that was a $450 (supplies alone) well-spent, as I was anticipating at least 3 years without varnishing.

For the last year, it is not only the horizontals that are degrading, but the vertical surfaces as well. In fact, ALL the surfaces are beginning to look like a case of mange.

The only place where the Bristol continues to hold up as advertised is on my main hatch and hatch boards. The hatch DOES continue to look beautiful. HOWEVER, this area is mostly covered by my dodger!!

All the areas exposed to sun and weather have Bristol that is quickly failing, far sooner than advertised.

Bristol Finish is a two-part epoxy and thus VERY hard to remove. Right now, I am just letting as much degraded away as possible, and will start removing physical this autum and go back to Epiphanes.

The 2 weeks during which I applied the finish was dry, low humidity with temps in the 70s - low 80's, and often cloudy, I used awnings when applying to alleviate boiling and ensuing bubbles.

Has anybody else had this problem with Bristol Finish? I am totally unimpressed with it so far. If it doesn't take the weather, why put it on a boat...and if you need to re-apply it every 6 months everywhere, why does the stuff cost over a hundred dollar a quart???

For now, I am just letting the sun take it off...and it seems to be doing a good job of just that right now!!

Here is a pic....and not even one of the worst section, just an average section. Like I said, it started degrading and peeling within the first year.


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## bljones (Oct 13, 2008)

Bristol is finicky, fussy stuff. Something tells me you had a prep issue. Moisture or contaminants trapped under the coating, not enough tooth on the substrate for the coating to grip, even just humidity variances and catalyst mix variation will cause BF to fail.


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## carl762 (Jan 11, 2010)

Wow, note to self, don't buy it. 

I'm using some West's varnish right now. I surely hope it last's longer than a year. The wood really looks great right now.

I hate painting.


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## Gene T (May 23, 2006)

I read the lable on Bristal once. Put it back on the shelf and bought Captain's. But I am currently in an anti varnish mode. Sorry for your bad experience.

Gene


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## SVPrairieRose (Oct 10, 2009)

I am a firm believer that exterior wood should be silver, sunbleached, and admired while not sanding, varnishing or painting. Sorry for your wasted effort.


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## ughmo2000 (Feb 12, 2003)

I've had Bristol on my exterior teak for two years now. Still looks fantastic.


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## genieskip (Jan 1, 2008)

SVPrairieRose said:


> I am a firm believer that exterior wood should be silver, sunbleached, and admired while not sanding, varnishing or painting. Sorry for your wasted effort.


I am a total convert to this philosophy. Last year I sanded everything on deck and gave it 5/6 coats of Ephifanes. It looked like hell a year later so I sanded everything clean and left it and plan to leave it. Brightwork looks great but till I have paid hands to do it I'm going with the natural look.

Incidentally, I had some "spillage" of the varnish on the fiberglass nonskid. Any good suggestions on how to get it off?


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## speciald (Mar 27, 2007)

I just transitted from Tortola to Annapolis. The Bristol looked terrible when we arrived; apparently the white water did it in. I just finished redoing 180 feet of toe and cap rail with Varnish - I hope it lasts longer.


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## SoulVoyage (May 9, 2010)

Yeah...my cockpit sole teak grids I keep 'au natural'...same with my lazarette hatches, and the little bit of teak decking on the fantail. All that's been natural for 5 years now...and holding up well.

I DO notice that the teak DOES eventually dry out and get brittle, though....as I've just had my first broken part of my cockpit sole teak grid (although was from a hard impact of a 27 series battery against the sole); and the week before I suffered from a cracked teak lazarette hatch (which I just finished stabilizing with an aluminum carpenter square cut to size and screwed onto the underside as re-inforcement, strangely enough....seems stronger than it was originally now. I did the same on my portside teak lazarette lid 3 years ago, and I walk on it all the time!...aluminum carpenter squares come in really handy for that kind of stuff!!!...plus if I want to measure a fish...i just open my hatch lid and set the fish up to the square... )

So it seems five years might be the limit for untreated sun-bleached teak. Anybody else? Previous to that these were either varnished or Cetol-ed.

I've always been afraid of using teak oil, as I've heard certain mildew love the teak oil...don't know if that's a misnomer or not. If not, I'm going to feed the sunbleached cockpit teak some teak oil.

Ughmo2000: WOW, you're very lucky!!! Did you apply the Bristol inside a boat shed, by any chance? I think THAT might make a difference. sure wish I had done mine in a boat shed. If I do anything like that again, I'll haul out and make my own boat shed using pvc pipe as hoops and the biggest tarp I can find. I did that once when I was re-doing all my deck core....the hoop "shed" lasted 3 months without mishap! Pounded larger diameter pipe into ground to act as anchor sleeves for the hoops. I think the whole "shed" cost less than $100 in tarp, rope and pvc pipe. Need a long perpendicular pipe lashed as a beam. Worked great!!

Genieskip: Varnish on the nonskid? Yeah, same usually happens to me. The stuff I swear by is called "Goo Gone"...removes pretty much ANYTHING without harming paintwork. Great stuff!! Dollar General sells it for $1 a 4oz bottle. West Marine sells a version of the same type of remover for $14.95 !!, and THIS stuff works better...as long as it is a FRESH spill...works on oil-based paint spills too. Dollar General is the cheap sailor's friend.  For old varnish drops....sometimes just a fingernail works. Me, I just paint over it with some touch-up deck paint.


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## Stillraining (Jan 11, 2008)

SVPrairieRose said:


> I am a firm believer that exterior wood should be silver, sunbleached, and admired while not sanding, varnishing or painting. Sorry for your wasted effort.


LOL...Ya Im getting that way myself...or better yet install a wood stove and burn it all for heat in the winter....some day I might have a real toe rail...an aluminum one..

I have come to the conclusion that there is one place for bright work on a boat......inside

Nice Avatar picture by the way.....I took that shot from a picture in a hotel in eastern Washington.


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## captbillc (Jul 31, 2008)

i just finished varnishing. i used petit's flagship premium varnish & intend to launch in a few days. at $48 a quart i believe it will last longer than the cheaper stuff i was using.


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## CalebD (Jan 11, 2008)

Having just used Bristol Finish on our hand rails on the cabin top as an experiment I am not impressed with the way this product applies either. It is not an epoxy based product but a urathane product and smells a lot like nasty nail polish. I like the way it looks and feels but I will see how well it holds up to the elements.
I am done with varnish which ends up being a nearly full time job on my boat and Cetol is my new favorite: Natural Teak that is. Looks nice, easy to apply and not really stinky (I liked the smell of Schooner varnish too) as well as not so damned expensive but does require annual maintenance instead of monthly with varnish. Who has time for putting 8 coats on anything? Do we live in Siberia or something?
There are a lot of folks who seem to think that Epiphanes makes a great varnish. I have not tried it and I can't believe that it is much more reliable then the Interlux Schooner I was using. My guess is that these folks are dock queens and do not spend much time actually sailing their boats. 
Life is short, wood is wood and my hair is probably getting grayer like the teak on my boat.


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## SVPrairieRose (Oct 10, 2009)

genieskip said:


> I am a total convert to this philosophy. Last year I sanded everything on deck and gave it 5/6 coats of Ephifanes. It looked like hell a year later so I sanded everything clean and left it and plan to leave it. Brightwork looks great but till I have paid hands to do it I'm going with the natural look.
> 
> Incidentally, I had some "spillage" of the varnish on the fiberglass nonskid. Any good suggestions on how to get it off?


Anyone else here see the irony? A thread started about varnish that won't stay on leads to a questiong about how to get it off? My advice... Point that section of deck to the sun and wait a month.


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## BELLATRIX1965 (Jan 2, 2007)

*YUP, same here - disappointed.*

We completely stripped our teak (formerly varnished and failing) toe rails 3 years ago, and applied 4 coats of Bristol Finish as per the maker's instructions. Figured that it should hold up to atmospheric conditions in Maine (not Florida sun!). Last year it started failing, and not just on the edges. Sadly, we went through the same process on the dorade boxes and cockpit trim two years ago - - - yeah, same result. We're going to re-strip the failed areas, feather them in, and go to Epiphanes varnish. Won't buy Bristol Finish again!


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## WadeC (Dec 25, 2008)

*Bristol Finish Problems*

Hmmm Last winter I just finished a 6 month bright work rehab project on my Hinckley Southwest 50 this past June. The surface maticulously dusted and a final wipe of Denatured alcohol was given just prior to applications. All the teak was stripped and sanded to 220 grit. We had 320 grit between coats and laid up 12 layer build by hand. The finish and last coat was Alcraft clear sprayed on by a pro. Over quality of the project was good However the Bristol is failing at the calked seems between the cover boards and combings in the cockpit. I believe this is a function of contraction and expansion of the various materials. All the work was done in a heated shed with low humidity. So far the horizontal surfaces have been holding up very well However I have a growing problem from the seams. Fortunately, all I will have to do is refinish what is the easiest surface on the boat! For the cost of materials the jury is still out. I will let you in 3 years if I think it was worth it.

Wade C
Aboard Solstice Hinckley Southwest 50 #22.


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## dlblandjr (Jul 7, 2012)

this wins my nomination as the single most appropriate advice of the year; her it is,
Relationships are everything to me..everything else in life are just tools to enhance them.


The purchase price of a boat is just the admittance fee to the dance...you still have to spend money on the girl...so court one with something going for her with pleasing and desirable character traits others desire as well... or you could find yourself in a disillusioned relationship contemplating an expensive divorce.


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## Flybyknight (Nov 5, 2005)

In my other life as a paint chemist my initial reaction based solely on what was posted, is that the failed teak held a lot of moisture below the surface. I can state with authority that for the most durable bright work finish is for the wood to have less than 6% moisture, be completely encapsulated in epoxy, and have at least 8 mils of a good *PHENOLIC!* varnish. Note, phenolic/alkyd don't cut it. I would also prefer to see the finish coated with a good Carnuba wax; and re-wax as soon as water fails to bead up. Do that and the coating will last. 
Dick


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## GaryHLucas (Mar 24, 2008)

My boat had teak plywood seats in the cockpit, teak hatch boards, and rails for the sliding hatch. My desire to have a dockside queen having faded a long time ago, I replaced it all with Starboard. I bought one whole 4x8 x 3/4" sheet at a very good price and replaced all the teak except two handrails. It make look industrial, but my goal is to sail not work on the boat. As many of you may know, all I've done for the past 4 years IS work on the boat!

Gary H. Lucas


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## americanfrog (Sep 6, 2012)

the bristol on my ex catalina 36 latest about three years in the pacific northwest and looked great with a nice wet-looking finish. I sold the boat before i had to re-do it ;-) On my new boat though, i am a convert to the silver look (but have very little teak)


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## ewayne (Sep 4, 2008)

In my quest for that elusive perfect coating for brightwork- I too tried Bristol Finish and found it to last no longer than the other finishes which I'd painstakingly applied after first removing all traces of other finishes. At the price of Bristol I quickly moved to other products such as Epiphanes, which I've found to last as long as the Bristol. I don't know of any product which really lasts. If you want great looking brightwork you must resign yourself to a lot of refinishing! I know of some who varnish their wood with several coats then paint over it to reduce the work while on extended cruises.


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## [email protected] (Jan 20, 2016)

We've been sanding and respraying my bosses teak furniture for years. Teak is an oily wood and needs an oil finish. Teak oil is best for teak. Bristol isnt oil based therefore it wont stick to teak. But we just finish we dont know our job. Smh!!! But it gets us through the dry spells when work load is low.


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