Hi All-

I'm a Safari User- so I don't know if this photo posting is going to work, so we'll see...

Here is a shot of dye fade tests made last summer. This is liquid TransTint Red Mahogany mixed with alcohol at 2/3 of the standard ratio (leftover from another project) and covered with 3 coats of Minwax Helmsman Spar Urethane on WRC.

The first panel was exposed from March 20, and a new panel was exposed the first of each month until October 1 (so the first panel was exposed from March 20-October 1). It's not a good representative photo because the sun is shining off from the panels with less exposure, making them look lighter. I cut a piece of the final panel, which was not exposed to sunlight, and is 1/2 dyed and 1/2 not, and clamped it next to the first panel. The dye exposed from March has faded significantly, but isn't back to undyed. Again, the photo isn't completely representative, it's faded a bit more than it looks in the shot. The panels exposed to sunlight in August and September show little fading, and even the panel exposed in September and not covered with Helmsman has retained some color.

For me- it's a good enough result to dye my hull. A qajaq will not see 100% exposure for 7 1/2 months, and I'm using West 207 under a commercial marine coating, so I expect it will have better UV protection than 3 coats of Helmsman alone. At the worst it will end up looking like it did to start with, plus a bit of oxidation, which isn't too bad to start with.

Hope this helps everyone!

Mike