RockDad

I have an ipe rail cap on my deck in Santa Cruz, CA. 12 years ago I applied a marine spar varnish but 3 years later had to sand it all off. I applied the epoxy/epifanes solution described and have been very happy ever since. It gets full UV exposure all day. The key step needed to keep it looking great is an annual light sand and re-coat. If you see a void appear in the finish during the year sand and re-coat sooner. If you let it go you have to take it all off. No finish is perfect outside but this one seems to work very well. I'm leaving my outside ipe chairs without a finish as I don't want to sand and re-coat everything every year (I'd rather build some new items!), but for a rail cap the visual impact of a nice finish is well worth the 3 hours annualy to keep it up!