Search the archives for the "rag" technique for wiping on varnish. Ther is a fairly good write up, and several people have used it successfully.

Fresh varnish which is thinned properly is fairly easy to brush on, but if you are having troubles, then try applying it with rags.

A few words about varnishing: several thin coats are MUCH better than one thick coat. Don't mix the varnish, or shake it on the day you are going to use it. This just gets lots of little airbubbles whipped in. If you need to do some thinning, then do it the night before. This can stretch out your job, but it saves a lot of sanding and polishing later. Buy small quantities and don't save a half-filled can of varnish to use next season. The small amount of air in the can will allow the stuff to start to set up. It will have gotten too thick to use in a fw weeks. Your best bet for saving varnish is to pour any remainder into glass jars and fill them as much as possible.

Varnish is about $20 a quart. To spend 5 times that on a sprayer to apply it is a strange concept. don;t forget that if you use a sprayer you'll need to clean it and store it. The cleanup time on my sprayer is about what it takes me to varnish the bottom of my canoe by hand. The cost of solvent/thinner for cleaning the sprayer is another factor to consider. If you are doing many boats and have frequent use for such a tool then it makes sense. If not, then stick to doing the job by hand, and maybe spend a portion of the money you'll save on a few other brands of varnish. Experiment to find which one works for you.

Just some thoughts

PGJ

Hope this helps

PGJ