Fiberglass boats usually have a gel coat. This provides the UV protection instead of varnish. The varnish is to protect the resin from UV. I'm not sure about surf boards, but if they are painted that would do the same thing. What is the life expectancy of a surf board. If it is less than a couple of years, there would be no need to provide UV protection.

> Fiberglass boats off the rack don't come with 10 coats of varnish.
> Why do we do it after glassing strippers? Surfboards don't come varnished
> and they seem to take quite a beating and look good...so whats the
> deal? UV? Shine? Just courious - so is my surfer buddy ---