: Hello All,

: This posting is for novices like myself.
: The final varnish coat. I stapled up 2mil plastic drop cloths all
: around my boat to avoid dust. The bottom was sanded and wiped
: down several times with denatured alcohol. My entire shop was
: vacuumed including shelves.
: I proceeded to apply a perfect final coat on the bottom of the
: hull. I proudly stood back and smiled. This is a rare occasion
: for me... I very carefully squeezed out of my shop, closed and
: latched the door. I did not go in back and forth
: to inspect my work as I have previously done with prior
: applications of varnish. That I'm sure contributed to the specks
: of dust all over the surface.

: Three days later I inspected the boat. It was a successful
: application and was dry enough to turn over with the deck facing
: up. The varnish creeped underneath the sheer and ran onto the
: deck surface....I had taped the sheer line
: like I was supposed to, but the masking tape somehow leaked the
: varnish underneath and onto the deck. Should not have placed the
: sticky side exposed to the varnish. Sticky side of tape facing
: down, it allows the excess varnish to run down the tape. I tried
: scraping the hardened part but as Nick Shade mentioned on a
: recent posting, the ends should be rounded off, I think we
: should all do it. I was thinking about it while I was scrapping.

: The runs were still soft, I picked up an ice cream stick and
: started scraping. It turned into a gooey mess. Then I took a rag
: and saturated it with denatured alcohol and scrubbed the gooey
: mess. The scrubbing did the trick. It wiped off 90%. I could
: have gotten all of it had I known earlier, as 10% was already
: hardened .

: I will still have to sand and re-varnish the deck. That is an easy
: task for me as I can't even begin to count how many times I've
: done this before and has become enjoyable task as it offers some
: positive re-inforcement when I see it shine.
: This also forces me to apply additional U.V. protection to the
: deck. The previous coat of varnish was very dry and on a well
: sanded surface, so I am not too concerned that the denatured
: alcohol will damage the previous application.
: Prep today varnish again tomorrow
: douglas

Better tape and paper to keep the varnish from running over surfaces you don't want it on. Generally if you're getting runs it's applied to heavy.

I use 6" wide masking paper designed just for this purpose. Sticky side of tape goes on the boat and onto the edge of the paper to hold it in place.

Bill H.