Hi Mike,

Nice test. The same guy who makes Transtint liquid dyes also makes a powdered form called Transfast that you mix up with water. As the name implies, it's supposed to be more colorfast. www.homesteadfinishing.com

Mark

: 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