: Sitting around waiting for delivery of a small, hobby size HVLP sprayer.
: (High Volume-Low Pressure) and wondering if anyone has used one of these
: for varnish or stain - not necessarily for kayak - but perhaps for other
: wood project finishes.

I used one quite a lot in the middle '80s, with excellent results. It was a bigger, more expensive cousin to yours, but otherwise very similar. Overspray on my unit was virtually nil.

: I've got an airless system and a regular pressure spray paint system and find
: shortcomings with both. The airless does a nice fast job - but is for big
: projects.... almost takes a gallon just to fill the 30 foot hose.
: Compressed air sprayer - even at 40 lbs. still leaves a lot of dust in the
: air and "mucho" overspray.

With some thinning, you can dial the pressure down to 20-25 psi and reduce overspray considerably. I like the exquisite adjustability available on conventional rigs.

: Read up on a lot of the
: "hype" on the HVLP - and at 4 lbs. pressure, seems to be able to
: keep overspray down. Of course if I need to thin more than 50% and put on
: many multiple coats, it may not be that advantageous. What interested me
: was that they indicate a spray pattern from 12 inches wide down to 1/4
: inch - and of cousre I'm wondering about how realistic that 1/4 inch
: dimension really is.

Would be nice for under and around coamings. Is the material flow adjustable too? If not, you get all your material in a narrow fan - better be ready to fly!

: On sale for $70.00 delivered, I figured I can't go too wrong - and understand
: it won't be up to par with the $700 units.

Exactly.

BTW, in response to Pete Roszyk's post, his unit is a little different. That unit, shown below, is a hybrid designed to run off standard 100 psi compressed air. The pressure is stepped down at the gun. Not at all like your unit, which has a little vacuum cleaner fan turned around to push instead of pull. The dedicated unit is a true HVLP system.

One thing to watch for though. As the unit operates the fan heats up considerably. The hot air makes the solvent flash off, slowly at first and then faster as you keep it running. The result can be orange peel. The fix would be more thinner, and run the unit dry to preheat the fan, hose, air and gun.