Just wanted to let you all know the "Nereida" Njord just came out of the spray booth. I had it shot with 4 coats of DuPont ChromaPremier 72700S three component automotive urethane by Pete Gagne in Berlin, NH. According to his distributor, there's a wooden boat builder in VT that swears by it. He added a flex agent for better abrasion resistance. I dropped it off Wednesday morning and should be bringing it back to the shop for final outfitting this afternoon or Friday morning. Pete did a fantastic job. So much better than I have ever done before. Even on hard to spray areas like the coaming there's not a drip or sag to be seen. The gloss is incredible. I am so psyched at how it came out. The price was very reasonable. For those looking at having a "perfect" varnish job, consider having sprayed professionally.

I also had Pete spray a fiberglass-covered plywood panel for some destructive testing to test the durability of the clear coat. I'll compare it with the other finishes I've used before.

For those that are curious, the Njord is a 18'-4" x 20" wide kayak designed by Bjorn Thomasson in Sweden. Even using 3/16" thick genuine mahogany, curly maple and walnut the pre-clearcoating weight came it at 39 pounds. Not too shabby for all hardwoods.

I'll be building the crate and doing the final outfitting this weekend. It ships to Spain next week. I'll post another picture when it's done.

Dan