Sailing Hatseflats
A 15ft Pram for Dinghy Cruising
20180624
20180625
20180626
20180627
20180628
20180629
20180902
20180915
20181014
20190208
20190422
20190510
20190511
20190512
20190525
20190601
20190803
20190804
20190805
20190807
20190811
20190819
20190820
20190821
20190822
20190823
20190828
20190908
20190922
20200216
20200603
20200612
20200712
20200718
20200719
20200727
20200822
20200905
20200910
20200911
20200912
20200913
20200920
20210305
20210509
20210724
20210905
20210912
20211003
20220430
20220508
20220603
20220618
20220821
20220828
20220904
20220911
20221009
20230423
20230520
20230528
20230625
20230805
20230806
20230810
20230903
20230906
20230910
20230911
20231001
20231008
20240423
20240515
20240603
20240614
20240623
20240710
20240714
20240716
20240720
20240723
20240725
20240726
20240727
20240730
20240908
20240915
20240929
20241007
20241019
20241021
20241110
20250420
20250421
20250422
20250428
20250504
20250505
20250622
20250630
20250707

Hatseflats Design

Hatseflats Hull Build

Fitting Out Hatseflats

Building TooPhat

<<

20250707

New Oars for Hatseflats Part 2

Updated 11-07-2025

Normally I would coat all wood with 3 coats of epoxy followed by 3 coats of two-pot polyurethane paint (marketed as DD paint by PolyService and De Ijssel Coatings). So it was a change to paint the new oars with a varnish from Epifanes. Why? The oars are expected to flex a little bit so we need a slightly elastic surface finish. Apparently more flex than in the hull and decks. In the long term, this may lead to cracks in the epoxy and painted surfaces. We don't want that, so bring on the varnish!

I was prepared to let the epoxy cure for 14 days but since the temperature in our garage did not drop below 25 degrees for the next week, Joost argued that I could paint the bare wood on the looms straight away and leave the epoxy on the blades to cure for a couple of days instead of the full two weeks.

Thursday 3 July

I sanded down the looms with 120 and 150 grit paper and applied the first coat of varnish. I used 40g of varnish diluted with 20g clear spirit. The varnish went on like water and I used only a tiny amount of the mixture. I washed out the brush with clear spirit and covered up my bowl with mixture with a used nitrile glove.

Friday 4 July

Sanded the looms with 240 paper and added second coat with the remaining mixture of 3 July.

Saturday 5 July

Sanded the looms with 240 paper and added third coat with the remaining mixture of 3 July.

Sunday 6 July

Sanded the blades with 120 grit paper, 150 grit paper, followed by 220 grit paper. Sanded the looms with 240 paper. I ran out of time and only varnished the outsides of the spoon blades (layer #1). Created new mixture of 60g of varnish and added 10g of clear spirit.

Monday 7 July

Sanded the insides of the blades and the looms with 220 paper (layer #1) Varnished looms and insides of blades with mixture of 6 July.

Tuesday 8 July

Sanded the outside of the blades with 240 paper. Varnished outsides of blades with mixture of 6 July (layer #2).

Wednesday 9 July

Sanded with 400 grit waterproof paper. Varnished looms (layer #5) and insides of blades (layer #3) with 25g undiluted varnish (which was just enough!).

Thursday 10 July

Sanded outside blades with 400 grit waterproof paper and varnish outsides of blades (layer #3) with undiluted varnish, straight out of the can.
Cut two pieces of 25x16.7cm for the leathers and two strips of 15mm x 50cm for the cuffs (or buttons).

Friday 11 July

Sanded looms and blades with 400 grit waterpoof paper and varnished looms (layer #6) and blades (layer #4). Leathering the oars is the last remaining task, planned for Saturday 12 July.



Varnished insides of spoon blades.
Epifanes varnish for the new oars.
Varnished looms fourth coat.
Straight taper to fit blade on loom.