Float repairs

Lord Paul of Sheffield · Aug 22, 2017

I know I should throw away some of my old peacock floats that have bits of varnish chipped but I'm a tight git and re varnish them

I found a box of old nail varnish of Her Ladyships and touched up the chipped parts

Will nail varnish work instead of wood varnish and should I keep changing the colour to match my nails

amos keato · Aug 22, 2017

I've tried this but didn't have much success with it.
I found that the re-touched peacock wagglers still took on water and sat lower and lower in the water, over a session.

iain t · Aug 22, 2017

Why bother as long as you can see them in the water. Some of my old floats should have been chucked out years ago but they still float and i can still make out the tips.
When i use to make them, i bought fluoro paint and waterproof varnish from Hobby craft.

floatfish · Aug 23, 2017

Nail Varnish will seal quill floats. I have some old type which painted up with
Humbrol Model paint and clear varnish work perfectly well.
For cheap Nail Varnish most Supermarkets stock Rimmel brand. The bottles
come complete with small brush inside for application.

Phil Heaton · Aug 23, 2017

I scuffed the roof of a new car loading a kayak onto the roof rack, touched it up with some of my daughter in law's white nail varnish and the repair is very hard to spot even after 3 years.
Does this mean the X Trail will float?

Really though nail varnish is a very tough material and available in clear, just expect funny looks in Boots as you browse and be careful of guys standing very close in big mac's with both hands in their pockets.

seth49 · Aug 25, 2017

When I was fly tying one of the best clear varnishes was one called "hard as nails", I have used it to add varnish to floats as well, it was good to use with the little brush in the bottle cap, it was a nail varnish,

Another I still use is a black coloured one, made for fly tying, called hard head, that has its own brush too

Float repairs

Lord Paul of Sheffield

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amos keato

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iain t

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floatfish

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Phil Heaton

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seth49

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