In a very recent thread, Gerald responded, in part:

: About using your boat for
: a short time before you varnish...I do.

And so do I. In fact, my boats have been finished to the point of the last epoxy fill coat since March, and still no varnish as yet.

In early June Leslie and I had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to to do a nice little road trip, and we jumped at it with only two day's notice. Our two Mill Creek 13s rode the racks from TX to OK to KS to Iowa, then to NE, WY, SD, MT, OR, CA, Nevada, AZ, Utah, CO, NM, and finally back to TX. Took almost two months of high mountains, searing deserts, bumpy gravel roads, and gale force winds nearly blowing us off the highway -- or the boats off the racks.

Among the boats' adventures, besides their prolonged stay in unceasing sunlight for the duration, was a terrific bashing on the Rogue River near Shady Cove, OR. Two different outfitters assured us ahead of time there was nothing our wooden boats couldn't handle with ease. But we aborted the trip just one mile into it, after hearing terrible wood splintering sounds as we alternately bobbed frantically about in rushing white water and bashed into huge rocks. Yikes! No damage to the boats or us, except for the usual scrapes and scratches. And Gerald say he uses his boats hard, heh heh heh.

Yeah, well, our boats could stand a little refinishing right about now, no doubt about it. They are missing epoxy and showing bare wood in a few places that received most of the sunshine, but the fact is they survived with no varnish in what has to be a fairly awesome torture test. They actually look pretty good, all things considered, and whipping them back into shape should be easy enough. I'll post photos soon...

So do I recommend varnishing your boat immediately? I sure would have, had I known this trip was about to happen. But it sure doesn't kill a boat not to.

Cheers,
Kurt Maurer