John,

I've been using Flagship as well, and I've had to thin it more than recommended (with T-10) to eliminate sags. My first experimentation with foam brushes was dismal and I switched to a badger brush which is more rigid and allows you to spread the varnish more thinly than the foam brushes. It's a pain to clean, though, and I recently gave the foam brushes another shot. I found that the wooden-handled ones are much better than the ones with the plastic handle. I've had much better luck with them for varnishing. But I still have to thin the Flagship to 15-20%.

Good luck,

Ross

: Hi,

: I've finished putting on the 3rd coat of Flagship varnish on the deck of a
: S&G yak (the hull is painted).

: 1) No matter how careful I am, I end up seeing a few sags in the finish a few
: hours after application. This isn't a problem now, as I'm rubbing them out
: with steel wool after each coat, but what am I going to do with the sags
: after the 5th (and final(?) coat)? Use the steel wool, then 1000 grit,
: 1500, etc, or will auto body polishing compund be good enough to reduce
: the sags and leave a shiny surface? Would auto wax, or furniture wax bring
: back the shine to the areas after using steel wool?

: 2) I know I'm being a little stupid about this, but I'd like to have the
: kayak looking pristine for a week or two, to show a couple people who
: doubt my ability to come up with something decent. Particularly an ex-boss
: who has an imported Italian plastic yak, who doesn't believe I routinely
: catch 25lb stripers (bass), who doesn't believe that I'm not coming back
: to work for him, etc. etc. (new job in a new field begins on 6/19 for me).

: 3) I tried the archives, but that was a waste as I spent several hours
: reading numerous interesting posts from the past and every link attached
: (God, Joe Greely does some beautiful work!).

: 4) FWIW, I've bveen using foam brushes, varnish thinned about 10%, and most
: (but not all) of the sags seem to be on the deck near the coaming (Guess I
: need to have less varnish on the brush in that area). I was thinking about
: no thinner for the last coat.

: Thanks for any advice about the varnish.

: John