I remember your last thread and promised to follow your wipe-on method if it looks promising. I've been vexed by brush strokes and bubbles despite rolling and tipping. I know this is kind of considered a right of passage in the boatbuilding community, but I found the inconsistency and unpredictability maddening as a former high-volume manufacturing process specialist. I somehow managed to put an *almost* perfect coat on my Wood Duckling kayak a few months ago, so I quit there (I think it was the 11th or 12th coat - I sanded most of them off). I'm 1-2 weeks from varnishing the deck of a plans-built Kaholo 14, though, so I'm eager to try a repeatable and brushless wipe-on technique. Please share the details of your process (all of them!). How are you thinning the varnish? Are you cleaning with a solvent between coats, using a tack cloth, etc.? Maybe you're not convinced that the details matter, but I think others would benefit from starting with your exact process and riffing from there.

Oh - and perhaps most importantly of all, please tell us which varnish you're using, of course! I should have written "rite* of passage" (oops).

Hi, having just finished my petrel play strip kayak, I thought I'd add some of my experience of wiping on varnish, which was mixed. I decided that wiping the whole boat would take far too much work, so I put 3 coats of epiphanies high gloss on with foam brushes, and sanded that smooth as a base. 

A neighbor who has used wiping varnish on furniture suggested a 50/50 varnish and thinner ratio, and soft cloths. The hull bottom was done first with good results,  keeping the cloth wet and using long strokes. The distinct keel line helped hide the ridge between the two sides. I put 3 coats on and the finish was really impressive, smooth and free of brush marks etc. sadly, the dust and insects don't differentiate between perfect and alright finishes.

The deck though was not as easy and in the end I abandoned that part. The main problem for me was the cockpit, hatch, skeg control introducing too many breaks in trying to use long strokes, and there were significant bumps and ridges as well as unfortunate runs. Subsequent brushed coats also failed as the weather was rainy and cool and I ended up with slight orange peel and the ever present dust specks.

Keen to actually get in the water after a year of work I took everything back to a satin finish with some very fine Mirka abrasive and I think that actually looks even better than a coffee table gloss. No brush marks, ridges and it also hides most of the small imperfections that have crept in.

   Sorry for not following up sooner, but when I was ready to glass the canoe the weather was staying down in the 50's and 60's and now that that is done and am varnishing the weather is perfect for being on the water and I am busy trying to get that done and finish the paddle so tht I can get on the water!

I will try to get all the details as has been requested. As I mentioned in the previous thread I originally got the idea of wiping the varnish from french polishing ( shellac based finish) some furniture, which came out great, especially comparing to my brushed varnish projects. I used Sand-n sealer, which is a thinned out polyurethane, on furniture and that came out great also. The first project was a dining room table some 25+ years now of family abuse (uh, family use) and it still looks good.

For the canoe I'm using Interlux Schooner gloss and satin varnish, only because it was easy to get from here and it was recommended from here. I like the satin look more than the gloss and as it is recommended to use the gloss first for the UV protection than the satin on top of that. I like the rich wet look of varnish but the satin coats gives it a more natural tone to it verses the plastic look of gloss. Personal opinion!

I used 180 grit on the resin and exposed wood ( gunnels, thwart and seats) and wiped it down with alcohol wet rag to get any dust. Not having used this product before I did not thin it out, any future projects I would thin the gloss to 75/25% and the satin to a 50/50% mixtures. Maybe some one here can recommend a thinning agent. The satin is a much thicker product than the gloss. They say to use a lint free rag but I could not find a product labeled lint free, only woven cloth in the local paint section. To prepare the cloth  lay it down on the table and fold the edges to the center in both the length and width directions and repeat until forms a nice size pad. For a ~ 12" x12" cloth do it three or so times. This is to form an edge free pad. Dip only a small portion of the rag into the varnish and wipe it on the project in any motion convenient for the area applied to, cross grain, swirls or with the grain. Working around thwarts, seating and gunnels can be arkward. But only do a small area at a time. At first the rag will only release a small amount of varnish because the rag is loading up. When a small area is coated, finish that area by wiping to the edge where you started in the grain direction. You will quickly find what is a small area. If it is too large, the varnish will become too tacky to give it a final wipe. After you apply the next small area, finish by wiping to the previous area and "flying" off the surface just as you get into the previous small area. The wet rag will be enough to over come the tackyness of the previous area.

I used 220 grit after the first coated to smooth the surface, mostly for the exposed wood surfaces from raising the grain. And wipe down the a wet alcohol rag to get rid of any dust. The third coat did not require any sanding. I was able to get three coats in one day, early morning, after lunch and evening and still have each coat dry thoroughly. The rag can be stored in a plastic bag between coats. Over night the rag dried out to have a slight stiffness. This produced a rough finish and I had to sand the fourth coat before putting the satin coat on.  I choose 4 gloss coats and 2 satin coats; that seemed good to me. So if you don't work or are busy, you can get this done in four days.

Some may be able to by with no gloves using a brush, but with wiping you should assume gloves are a must. For the first coat on the inside, I satrted with the gunnels, thwarts and seating to ensure no drips were left on the inside. But when I went to the inside I found I was hitting the "wet" gunnles and thwarts, so the remaining coats for the inside I did the inside followed by the gunnels, thwarts and seating and just made sure there were no drips and if so did a quick light wipe when there were drips.

If you have any questions, I would be glad to give you my opinion when I can jump on here as I try to get everything done to get on the water!