: I am getting close to completing a pair of Osprey Standards and am thinking
: down the road to varnishing. I have several questions: How long should I
: wait be for vanishing? I living in update New York so it will be a while
: before I can use it anyway.

: What is the best strategy for varnishing; varnish the hull, let it dry flip
: the kayak over and do the deck? Hang from ceiling and do the hull and deck
: all at once? I did read on the forum about someone that built a varnish
: rotisserie but could not follow his directions.

: If you use the flip method do you mask at the sear line or a below the sear
: line? When you mask do you mask at the same point all the time or allow
: for some overlap? Would you sand between coats, after both the deck &
: hull are both varnished or before flipping to do the other half?

: I am looking at using Z-Spar Captains Varnish. I figure that I will need
: about 3 qt. total for both boats. It cost about the same price to buy a
: gallon. Would it be better to buy quarts or buy a gallon and place it in
: mason jars?

: Thanks for any help.
: Norm
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Minwax® Helmsman® Spar Urethane (Clear Gloss)

You can buy this everywhere and the prices run between $4 on sale to $11 a quart, with $7 being about average. Shipping would cost that much alone for varnish by mail. Some of the true varnishers using Captains, etc. don’t think the urethanes give quite the shine and I don’t have anything to compare mine to, but the shine looks pretty good to me. When you add in the availability, cheap cost and quick drying time, that made it a compelling buy for me.

Varnishing was a real mystery to me so while I was building my boat I was watching the board for tips on varnishing from the different members. I put several of their ideas together that worked for me without having any varnishing experience. I used a MinWax polyurethane varnish that dried in 4 to 6 hours, so I could get a complete coat on in a day, hull and deck, and one day I did two coats with no sanding between coats. I had 7 total coats. I use Rehd’s method of hand wiping, which went on very fast and easy and virtually eliminated runs. About 15 minutes wiping time. I use Bounty paper towels dipped in the varnish which didn’t tear up and leave a residue. I use Rob Mack’s idea of not using above 220 wet grit sandpaper between sandings. That give a mechanical bond to the last layer of varnish and knocked off any high places in the varnish, yet I didn’t spend a lot of time doing needless sanding. The last coat was Rob Mack’s use of a foam brush to get a thicker last coat and then tipped of with that brush to eliminate runs and bubbles. I wore throw-a-way rubber gloves so there was never a mess from the hand wiping of the varnish. This system worked out well for me as a rank amateur that I was.

I didn’t do any taping and the yak just laid on straps to turn it over on.

John