I'm having a crisis situation. I put coat 1 on a tip section last Tuesday night. I waited 36 hours then began my routine of rubbing it down with 0000 steel wool before the next coat and when I got near the tip the varnish started peeling. Now I've got a mess. I keep trying to wait and let it set up more so I can sand it down but I am now going to have to cut all the wraps off and redo the whole thing. This is the first time this has happened to me. What is happening? Climate issues? Varnish gone bad?

Lee,

Just off the cuff, any chance that an oil or other contaminant got on to the blank prior to the first coat of varnish? As far as fixing the current problem sand back until it doesn't peel then wipe down with denatured alcohol then try appling another coat. Tim

Citristrip worked when I had the same thing happen. Strip it off, wipe it down, and sand lightly to get the varnish to "grip" the rod. It took me a while, but well worth the effort. Good luck.

Could very well be a contamination problem. If it is a contamination problem I would expect that the varnish would still set up properly but would peel off in soft sheets of cured but not really brittle (yet) varnish.
Or if you are using a spar varnish, 36 hrs. might be too soon. If this is the problem I would expect that you ran into a gummy layer of uncured varnish. You post that it started peeling as you got near the tip. If this section was dried tip down, and IF the varnish was a bit heavy to begin with and IF it sagged just a bit so that it was a bit thicker at the lower portion of the section then, well, maybe the varnish really hadn't set up yet. Spar, and again I am assuming spar, dries largely due to exposure to oxygen which means it pretty much sets up from the top down.
Either way, it is a BUMMER indeed. Only thing to do is to strip and re do.
AgMD

You said you were following your normal routine. I suspect you are using urethane because of the minimal cure time you are expecting. If it is an oil Spar, then you should normally wait several days at the least between coats. Real oil spars, not Spar urethanes, take months to fully cure. I have cut off wraps a year later to only find they are still gummy underneath. I don't know how old your varnish is, but it is possible the chemicals are aging, and not working the same as they did when fresh. Find a piece of scrap wood or bamboo and brush a few spots of varying thickness and try to gauge how long it is taking to cure.

The varnish you are using might be past its prime and good for another purpose like woodworking projects within the next year. Everything has a shelf life, and unfortunately it never seems to happen at convenient times.

Scott

Nope, I have always used spar varnish and have used the same varnishing technique for dozens of rods with no trouble. Usually wait about 36 hours between thinned coats and rub down with steel wool in between coats (and 600 grit on the wraps if there is any waves). I think the problem this time around, though, was that I used varnish that hadn't been thinned. When I buy a gallon of spar I decant it off into smaller quart sized containers and thin them when I decant. On this rod I opened a fresh quart and I am wondering now if somehow I goofed up and this one got through the process unthinned. Also, I'm varnishing in a completely new environment as I'm living with my mom while I build a new house/workshop. Could've been different humidity in her garage as opposed to my old place.

I fixed it all though, thanks for the replies. I took a portion of that same can and thinned it, cleaned off the old varnish and re-applied. The newly thinned batch set up just fine. Oh, I also brought it inside after 24 hours to finish curing.

Thanks again.