> I have just put the 3rd coat of varnish on my Guillemot Coastal and found
> there are a few spots on the deck where something strange happend to the
> varnish. The majority of the boat dried to a high gloss as I expected,
> however, there are a few spots where the finish is dull and flat. The
> varnish also remained tacky on these spots for a couple of days. It seems
> to have dried now. The first two coats went on fine. I'm using Z-Spar
> Captains varnish.

> My procedure has been to wet sand with 320 grit paper, wipe down with a
> sponge and damp cloth, and then wipe with a tack cloth.

> What could have contaminated the deck and caused the varnish to do this,
> or is it the varnish? The only thing I can think of is that I may have
> wiped these spots harder with the tack cloth and left some sort of
> residue. Anybody have any ideas?

> What should I do about it? Just try another coat? Remove the varnish with
> a solvent and try again (Ugh!)?

> Thanks.

I just had the same problem on my second coat of Captains varnish -- a couple of small spots that looked duller and which weren't drying -- really there's little logic to it, unless somehow these areas held water from the wet sanding -- other small areas were around my hatches where the weatherstripping may have held some water.

I scraped the gum off, sanded and varnished over these areas -- so far so good...