Epifanes RAPIDCLEAR

I used this brand about 10 years ago on a coffee table and it has held up perfectly. This rapid clear was very easy to use. Not hard to work with at all. I’ll buy again if the need arises.

We have a lot of teak on our Grand Banks classic. Our annual maintenance in SC is to do a sand to remove any minor impefections with various shaped sanding tools; put down 1 or 2 quick coats of rapidcoat; then 2 or 3 coats of rapidclear followed by 2 coats of high glass. The rapidcoat and rapidclear don't require sanding between coats and have a quick recoat time so they go pretty fast. Sanding before and between coats is necessary for the Epifanes high glass and at least 12 hours between coats so that is more time consuming. Finishing with the high glass give a deeper glass and more durability.

I have used many many varnishes and clear coatings. In general, among varnishes, polyurethane is best used inside because it cures very hard and is too brittle for outdoor use where the temperature fluctuates. Because of this polyurethanes rarely have UV blockers in them, which is another problem for outdoor use. Marine "spar" varnish is the critical word for an outdoor clear coating and the quality of those vary greatly among Brands. Eifanes clear high gloss varnish (not this product) is among the best spar varnishes and as such is 1) leaves an amber tint; 2) takes quite some time to dry; 3) must be thinned prior to use in almost all cases). This product Epifanes RapidClear is something more unique in the marketplace. It is an exterior product with flex that has UV blockers buy 1) it dries much more quickly than spar varnishes; 2) provides an almost clear final tint even after 8+ coats.If you are looking for a clearer finish without the typical amber tint of a spar varnish this an extremely high quality product that will do just that for you.

I bought Epifanes marine products to clear coat my adirondak chairs. Even though they are under cover all winter, they are still exposed to moist air and look worse for the wear come spring. They are painted and have been sprayed with Helmsman Outdoor Clear spray for the past few years which proves to be entirely a "good for one season" kind of application. So I'm hoping going with marine spar is the answer. I bought the high gloss clear varnish first and did 2 of the chairs. The coating appears to be tough as nails, but I wasn't really into high gloss for this particular application. For the next two chairs I ordered this product: Rapidclear Semigloss. It went on very nicely and 4 coats later, it too seems to be a very durable coating for my chairs... however...in a side by side comparison, you cannot tell which chairs were done in high gloss vs. this semi-gloss. They look identically super shiny. If I have to coat these again in the future, I'd mix the matte matte product with the semi-gloss like another reviewer suggested to get a more "satiny" finish. I'd give it 5 stars for application ease, but had to drop it to 4 stars because its not a true semi-gloss finish.

Great product -- once I got a good can.I ordered a can of Rapidclear semi-gloss direct from Amazon and received a can of "matte" product, which had been poorly packed and badly dinged up in transit. Worse, the product was very thick and set up like a jelly during application. I called Epifanes, which has a really useful US helpline, and they said that something was wrong with the can I got. In particular, I was told that Rapidclear should be a very thin product, and they thought perhaps the can I got may have gotten frozen. After receiving a refund from Amazon, I re-ordered this via the Atlantic Boat Supply provider on Amazon, rather than from Amazon directly. The correct item came promptly, was well-packaged for transport, and the product inside was in great shape.After that, the Rapidclear went on my front door very well indeed (no thinning needed) and looks lovely. It dries fast, so put it on smoothly and don't work it with a brush afterward.UPDATE: though sanding isn't necessary between coats, after I applied five coats there was a bit of waviness to the surface, so I think that I would have been wise to have sanded at least once after a couple coats just to keep things nice and flat. (It perhaps didn't help that I applied this to a door that was still hung on its hinges -- probably applying to a horizontal surface would have been fine with no sanding at all.)