: I am nearing completion of my Chespeake 17 and am considering spraying the
: varnish with a HVLP sprayer a friend is willing to loan me. Has anyone
: else sprayed their boat and can you provide any suggestions? (I was
: planning on using Z-Spar Captains varnish)

I'm about to try the same thing using an HVLP to spray System Three clear water-based urethane. I've no idea if the same would apply to regular varnish, but they suggested starting with a 20% mix, 2oz. water to 10oz. urethane, less if it runs and more if it orange peels. Maybe that's a starting point with the varnish: 15-20% mineral spirits to varnish. They said there's a definite learning curve involved due to humidity, etc. Most builders here really seem to have good results with foam brush and straight varnish. See Rob Macks posting in one of the current threads. It will be interesting to see if the results are worth the hassle of using the sprayer and cleanup vs. a simple foam brush.