. . . I don't even like the look of varnish particularly. If I am doing any other kind of woodwork I always oil and polish. Never varnish.

But I am we'll known as a lazy bastard.

Et

I bet you ain't as lazy as me mate! If you dislike varnish why not simply paint? I use latex house paint, semigloss in fact. Dries fast but takes a while to reach full hardness, but once it does it's almost bullet proof and lasts and lasts. nice thing about paint is, if it gets chipped it is easy to spot and touch up before worse happens.

I do varnish the bits I have to look at while paddling but only those parts that stay clean, and I use porch paint on the inside bottom, since it's meant to be stepped on. It's a canoe, very little deck, which also keeps the varnished area down.

The whole boat doesn't have to be high-gloss to look good, just a little bit here and there. The old girl still gathers a crowd if I take too long walking across the beach, but then, there's not much competition around here . . .