Whoa! The first timers trap. Been there, done that. Some varnish and many polyurathanes are not compatible with epoxy. My diversion into this unfortunate quirk of epoxy never did dry. I use McCloskey "Man O War" marine spar varnish over System Three epoxy, with no problems. System Three now makes their own spar varnish to assure compatiblbity with their epoxy. It is also currious that your epoxy took "weeks" to cure. Coating/saturating epoxies take from minutes to 24 hours, or maybe 48 hours under the worst conditions for which they are intended to be used, to reach initial cure. They will continue to harden over several weeks, but the initial cure is all you need to continue work on your project. Post your methods of application (and brands) for both the epoxy and vcarnish. Perhaps we can spot your problem and help you avoid a repeat experience. Jerry P.S. A search of this forums archives should turn up many referrnces to this problem, you are not the first.