Varnish, varnish, varnish

Varnish has been pretty much my life over the past week or so and I feel like I'm making some good headway on all the bits that should be shiny.  Nothing too exciting to talk about but the boat is looking 'yachtier' by the day.  I also got started bolting the chainplates back in but will save that discussion for when I actually finish.

I opted to go with Epifanes Wood Finish Gloss varnish that doesn't require sanding between coats although I find that sanding after the third coat makes the subsequent coats lay down really smooth.  Right out of the can the consistency is like warm caramel; it's really thick so it needs to be thinned with Epifanes Brushing Thinner to make it lay down nicely.  I may get a quart of Epifanes Clear varnish for the final coat or 2 just to make sure I have a hard surface.

The coamings have 4 coats on outside and 2 coats on the inside. My plan is to give the outside side one more coat before lightly sanding and installing on the boat for good.  That's not to say the varnishing is done for the coamings, it will just be easier to do in place. I wanted to get a bunch of coats on the sections that won't be exposed before installation.

The new washboards and the new tiller are on coat 6 and we just finished coat 3 on the toerail last night. The toerail is time consuming and takes a little over an hour to do, but last night my wife and I both started up at the bow and worked our way aft and got it done in 30 minutes or so, and having someone to talk to makes it much less tedious.  With 3 coats on, things are starting to look really good.  I may put on one more coat before a light sanding, but I will have to take a look today and see how smooth it looks.