Three Varnishing Tips

Though the new mast will cut our annual varnish job time by approximately 95%, we still have some gleaming wood on board that needs upkeep. I’ll say right up front that I am neither a professional NOR a perfectionist; if you are either one of these, you will be horrified by my suggestions here. We aim for the “looks good from 5 feet” level of varnish excellence, not the “looks perfect with a magnifying glass” level.

Another thing to note: while the exterior varnish needs a couple of maintenance coats every year (more if exposed to sunlight/abrasion), the interior varnish can go MUCH longer between love lavishings. We last varnished Calypso’s interior oh, 30 years ago. So my grumblings about the prep work need to be taken with a lot of eye-rolling.

Some options

Varnish basics. The devil is in the preparation. It’s worth being meticulous in your sanding and cleaning, and thinking about where the piece will be stored while it’s dry (if you’re doing varnish work off the boat.) Also what else needs to be done while said varnish is drying. It can take up to a day to get to the tack-free stage, meaning dust and gunk can collect and stick that long. It’s better to take a couple of extra days between projects rather than rushing it and nullifying all your hard work.

Only you can decide what varnish is right for you. There are a LOT of different kinds, and a lot of different manufacturers. Over the years we’ve tried a bunch of them; the current favorite for gloss (exterior work) is Epifanes (see photo above) and we have yet to find one for the interior work.

Tip 1.

If you are unearthing decades-old varnish to see if it will still work, coat a same-kind-of-wood piece with said varnish, using the same kind of application method you’ll use for real, to see how it behaves. Actually, this is good advice for ANY kind of coating. The nautical equivalent of painting swatches of paint on your walls. And if you’re going to be varnishing over paint (we did this on the electrical panel), test the varnish over that paint too. NOT on the piece that matters.

Pro perspective: Buy a damn new can of varnish, cheapskate.

This tip also applies if you’re trying a new kind of varnish. Don’t take the marketing words as gospel, nor any videos you might have seen on YouTube. Go ahead. Ask me how I know this.

This stuff is NOT varnish. Despite the words on the bag. I’ve renamed it “orange glop.”

Tip 2.

Foam brushes are our favorite way to apply varnish. There’s no worry about brush marks (sometimes even varnish that levels well shows through those marks) and the foamies are cheap enough that you can throw them away and not deal with toxic clean up chemicals.

Pro perspective: FOAM?? OMG never. Best quality brushes only, please.

Tip 3:

Use a syringe to decant the varnish into a separate container. This means you can keep the varnish from being contaminated by air (because you can close the lid quickly) and also means you keep the lip clean, allowing for a more complete seal. There are apparently pour paks you can buy to pour your varnish into, kind of like re-fillable wine bladders, that will keep the oxygen out; we don’t like these because of the challenge with distributing the solids in the varnish (ie mixing it up well)

Pro perspective: I’d think this might find favor with the pros.

Varnished Boom With Dew. Despite the beauty, I am not sad to see this go.

May your varnish go on smoothly and you not get too hung up on any runs or holidays.