Urethane over varnish?

[D_Sabine]

Yesterday I put a coat of spar varnish on a 14' stripped and restored canoe. I thought a litre might get me 2 coats but no such luck. I returned to the store where I bought the varnish last year ( the only place I had been able to find it locally), and found they have discontinued it. They only carry spar urethane now.

I am thinking that it is a bad idea to put a coat of urethane over varnish. Maybe that's just the varnish fumes thinking though. Thoughts?

 

[Andre Cloutier]

very bad idea indeed. dont waste your work this far, hold out for varnish. urethane will not flex like the varnish nor breathe, so you will be removing all of it much sooner than the coats of varnish when they are old and need replacing.

 

[MGC]

Andre is right. Hold out for the right stuff.
You can almost always spot urethane varnish that was applied over spar....it eventually bubbles.

 

[D_Sabine]

Thanks guys. Guess I'll look into online ordering. Since yesterday I have been reading about the disappearance of spar varnish from the retail market. I had no idea. In the meantime, the little bit I have left might have to go towards refreshing the finish on my snowshoes - as I recall, urethane and rawhide don't work together all that well.