You have done everything correctly to this point. All of your wood has been sanded fair to 80 grit. It has been stained perfectly and sealed with three coats of CPES.
Drop the ball when varnishing will destroy all of your hard work.
Those glossy mahogany hulls, with shines that appear miles deep, do so because their surfaces are flat. Achieving flat requires patience, patience and more patience.
Reading the narratives accompanying these videos are especially critical to achieving varnish to die for. Please do so.
Remember a snow field is a flat surface and your goal, over and over again as you build coats.
We have tried spraying varnish, applying it with super expensive hog bristle brushes, and rolling and tipping it. Rolling and tipping is our choice, not because we believe it is the best of the methods, but because it works for us.
1957 Lyman Runabout Varnish & Assembly
So many parts. So much staining and varnishing! But with 90 percent of the varnishing ...
1957 Lyman Runabout – How To Varnish
So close! One more coat of varnish tomorrow and installing our 1957 23’ Lyman Runabout’s ...
1957 Lyman Runabout – How to Varnish update
Happy New Year from RJ, Joe and Michael at Snake Mountain Boatworks LLC! We spent ...
1953 Shepherd Runabout: How to Apply Final Coat of Varnish
Yes, she is Voodoo Child, and if all goes well this fall and winter, you ...
1946 Chris Craft: How to Sand Varnish to Snow
Flat = Gloss This update on our conservation process at it applies to the 1946 ...
1959 Chris Craft Sportsman Buffed Assembly Begins
I just spent some minutes viewing our intake photographs of this 1959 17’ Chris-Craft Sportsman ...
1959 Chris Craft Sportsman: How to Buff Varnish (the SMB Way)
Gloss is about flat, which may seem incongruous, but the flatter the surface, the more ...
Snake Mountain Boatworks LCACBS Varnish Buffing Workshop
“Always start with the least abrasive grit that will work, as you don’t want to ...
1955 Penn Yan Commander Aristocrat Finish Painting
Epifanes asserts that its Monourethane One-Component hard high gloss paint “provides incredibly hard urethane abrasion ...
1952 Chris Craft Riviera: Buffing Varnish Triumph
RJ and John rolled and tipped coat number 14 of Pettit High-Build onto the decks ...
Wood Boat Varnish Buffing – RJ’s Clinic
The last coat of varnish has been oh so carefully rolled and tipped. The mahogany ...
1952 Chris Craft Riviera Runabout Varnish Update
Varnishing the Chris-Craft 18’ Riviera Runabout began last Monday. Today, after RJ lightly hand-sanded the ...
1956 Century Cowhide Palomino Hull Preserved!
She arrived from Long Island, NY last fall, incredibly original throughout, even if a bit ...
1958 Cadillac Seville – Interlux Perfection Plus Two Coats
We are nearing completion of a thorough preservation of this early example of cold-molded plywood ...
1937 20′ Lyman Varnish Prep Milestone!
Ready for varnish is a huge milestone, and the prospect of applying the initial four ...
1948 Century Sea Maid Varnish!
Finally! Songbird is spreading her wings as we apply Pettit Z Spar Flagship High Build ...
1948 Century Sea Maid Deck Seams & Varnish update
Songbird is progressing, despite curing still being severely hampered throughout the shop by chronic humidity ...
1948 Century Sea Maid Post Preservation Debut Milestone
Songbird is a 1948 18-foot Century Sea Made who arrived in October 21. Now, some ...
1947 Chris Craft U22 Stain Seal Milestone
Our 1947 Chris-Craft cedar-planked U22 blew past a major milestone today. Her deck, gunwales and ...
1953 Shepherd Model 110 S Time for Sikaflex and Varnish
With the entire hull sealed with three coats of clear penetrating epoxy sealer (CPES), one ...
1953 Shepherd Model 110S Update
Honest, the Shepherd has not been neglected. There is just so many time a video ...
1953 Shepherd M110 S Dual Quad Four V-drive Hemi 22′ Runabout Post Preservation Debut
Voodoo Child arrived here from Pointe au Beril, Ontario, CA on October 27, 2015. Now, ...
1953 Penn Yan Swift CZT Varnish Update
We are sooo close to completing the varnishing of this incredibly original 1953 12’ Penn ...
1951 Penn Yan 18′ President Preserved!
I walked around the house’s corner and there in the garage sat the most unusual ...
1953 Penn Yan 12′ Swift CZT Preservation Complete!
Here we are, with her preservation complete, and still we have failed to find either ...
1959 Lyman Runabout Varnishing Milestone
These 16.5’ Lyman runabouts from the 1950s are truly iconic, and this example is not ...
1959 Lyman Runabout Buffing Milestone
Ahhh…. The beginning of the end of preserving our 1959 16.5-foot Lyman runabout is just ...