Varnish Experiment - follow-up

I'm really disappointed to say the least. It's been noted recently that dip varnishing doesn't prevent the requisition of most of free water (at equilibrium) after a year or so. I just thought maybe impregnating would be better. According to my test, it is much less effective.

Here's a little more detail. All test strips are about 2.5 inches long. There are 4 strips in each test group.

Group 1: No finish

Group 2: Soaked in Ship'n Shore for 24 hours and heat cured at 175* for 1 hour.

Group 3: Soaked in a mix of 3 parts Ship'n Shore, 1 part Ace Spar and 1 part turps for 24 hours and heat cured at 175* for 1 hour.

Group 4: 4 dipped coats of Ace Spar lightly sanding between coats and curing in the drying closet for about a week.

I weighed the strips before and after finishing. Both the soaked and dipped strips gained about 5 percent. So I have to assume the soaked strips retained some solids from the impregnation process.

I submerged all the strips in a glass of water weighing them at timed intervals. After 24 hours of soaking, the weight gain was as follows:

Group 1: 22 percent
Group 2: 22 percent
Group 3: 21 percent
Group 4: 4 percent...that's not a typo, it was 4 percent for the dip varnished strips and two strips gained no weight at all.

The difference is so outrageous, I feel like an idiot for doing the test. But I've impregnated all but one of my rods under the assumption that the moisture resistance will be equal to or better than dipping. That doesn't appear to be the case. I think I'll test another set of strips soaking them in the impregnation solution for like 3 days. Maybe that will make a difference.