: I have been to several kayak and canoe museums and looked at the
: old strip-built boats. The canoes were built with clenched canoe
: tacks rather than glue, and of course were restored by the
: museum with a varnish finish without glass and epoxy underneath.
: They do not have the perfect glass-like finish that modern
: strip-builders desire, and slight strip-to-strip misalignment is
: tolerated instead of being sanded out, but they still look
: great.

: It occurs to me that much of the desire for a perfect finish is
: because the glass-epoxy surface shows up every imperfection.
: Such mirror finishes also highlight the small scratches that
: everyday will add.

: Since my stripper is built with ribs like the olde-tymers, and I
: intend to treat it with respect, it does not require glass to
: hold it together. Therefore I suspect it does not need the
: perfect auto-body quality finish that is the subject of this
: thread, and will still look great with the semi-gloss paint and
: varnish finish I plan to use.

: Anyone care to confirm - or reject - that suspicion? I'm not trying
: to down-play the need for an excellent finish under glass or
: denigrate those who aspire to perfection instead of mere
: adequacy, just wondering if I need to achieve it on a boat that
: will not be glassed.

Varnish needs to be gloss for marine use but semi-gloss paint works very well on boats and looks great to me.

Varnish has no pigments to resist the UV that paint has, so needs the gloss finish to reflect the sun's rays to help it resist the UV.

Bill H>