Finishing Supplies

Over the last 30 years at Chesapeake Light Craft we have painted and varnished countless decks and hulls. We have put finishes on prototypes, on demo models—as of this writing more than 60 demo boats are stored at CLC—and on boats built for to order for customers. We have tried every brand and type of marine coating. Of all these, the finishes produced by Interlux are the easiest to apply, and the most durable. The Interlux components work well together, and are compatible with the type of marine epoxy shipped with CLC boat kits.

The suggested quantities below are sufficient for a beautiful finish on your boat. The number of coats of paint tends to vary based on the color chosen. The chemicals used to tint blue or white paint cover surfaces easily and build depth quickly. Yellow and red, for some reason, require additional coats. Likewise, the coverage for varnish will vary, for example, if you're creating a satin as opposed to a gloss finish. Since ALL of our designs are coated with epoxy, the primary goal for varnish or paint is to protect epoxy from UV light. This will require a minimum of three coats and a maximum of five or six. That is how we calculated these quantities:

For a painted hull and varnished deck finish

• 1 qt. of primer, 1 qt. of paint, and 1 qt. of Varnish for single kayaks and small skiffs
• 1 qt. of primer, 2 qts. of paint, and 2 qts. of Varnish for tandem kayaks and larger skiffs

For an all varnished finish

• 2 qts. of Varnish for single kayaks and small skiffs
• 3 qts. of Varnish for tandem kayaks and larger skiffs and sailboats