I'm just finishing up a Chesapeake 17 and have had several "learning" experiences to share with fellow "newbies":

— using one of those giant "gum rubber erasers" to regularly unclog your sandpaper can drastically cut the amount of sandpaper you'll use on the finishing coats. (And if you don't already own one, get a good quality random orbital sander.)

— the final coats of varnish which I applied using a really good badger hair brush ($18) from West Marine look MUCH better than the first coats which were applied with a cheaper, middle-of-the-line brush ($8) from Sherwin Williams.

— running an decent air cleaner for an hour or more in the space where you're varnishing BEFORE you varnish makes a SIGNIFICANT difference in the amount of "fuzz" which invariably finds its way onto your freshly varnished hull.

— I just spent a considerable amount of time sanding (polishing??) the deck with 2400 grit sandpaper (yes, 2400...available from Woodcraft)...used it after the third coat so I wouldn't sand through prior coats, but in all honesty, the fourth coat didn't look appreciably better than the coat before which went over a 320 grit sanding job.

— after several coats of varnish on the hull and deck, I started finding more particulate matter in the finish (even after running the air filter). I've come to the conclusion that it was probably from using varnish straight out of the can (i.e.,over the course of several coats, the brush picks up enough dust and particles to start impacting finish). For my next boat I plan to pour out as much as I think I'll need into a separate container. If a significant amount is left over, it's going through a strainer before going back into the can.