I’ve been in a frenzy to get some varnishing done on Mahdee–in particular this weekend.  It’s been very cold and drizzly when ever I’ve had time to do it but it seemed that this Friday-Sunday would be perfect for it: daytime temperatures in the low to mid 60’s, overcast mornings and sunny afternoons.

My favorite varnish is “Behr Spar Varnish” and better known to me as the “Varnish for Idiots” because you really can’t screw up putting on Behr.  It is very thin and that’s the ticket to not messing it up it seems.  You’d think that thin means it runs–right?  Ah, but that’s the opposite of what happens.  If it is very thin, the varnisher (that would be me) has ample opportunity to see it running and do something about it.  Whereas thick…well that’s the real culprit.  Thick varnish can look just fine but turn your back on it and during the time between your last look and the varnish drying it can drip or “curtain” on a vertical surface.  Evil stuff.

Well, the state of California has managed to outlaw all varnishes with a decent level of volatile organic compounds (VOC) and that has created a few problems for those of us who are, well, challenged varnishers.  When California starts something, the rest of the country follows.  First, it meant that Behr decided to get out of the spar varnish trade entirely.  All that “thinness” of the varnish was actually a nicely high level of VOC’s.  So, sadly, the wonder days of “Varnish for Idiots” is gone and everyone is now in search of other good (read “easy to apply”) varnish that also still happens to have a decent quantity of UV inhibitors as well.

I started my search using Petit’s “Captains” varnish and the West Marine knock off of the same.  No go, that stuff was as thick as molasses.  If I thinned it to proper brushing thinness, the gloss was entirely gone.  If I didn’t thin it enough, I ended up with curtains and drips…and…Horror of horrors, the dreaded varnish wrinkles.  Those make areas look like my fingers after I’ve been in the bathtub lounging way too long.  Wrinkled like a prune.  In varnish this happens where varnish is too thickly applied or when it is too cold or windy.  This is because the varnish skims over on the top but the underside is still wet and goo-ey.  It never dries and you pretty much just have to scrape it off and start again.  So, I did quite a bit of scraping when I used Captains.

After I ran through all the Captains varnish (and West clone) I then consulted with Dan at the San Diego Marine Exchange.  Dan gave me the low down on varnish and from him I learned that Captains and Interlux Schooner varnish were the two favorites of his clients.  So, I thought I’d give Schooner a try.  I bought a quart and did some interior varnishing.  All seemed good.  It was a little thicker than Behr but I could work with it w/o thinning.  Or so I thought.

I bravely found a sale on Schooner Varnish and purchased a total of 12 quarts.  That sounds like a lot but really it is about enough to last Mahdee through 2 complete re-varnish sessions where I put 3 or 4 coats on everything.  In other words, I’ll need more varnish in a couple months.

So, back to this weekend’s weather.  David sanded about 1/4th of the exterior brightwork on last Thursday and I started varnishing on Friday.  I was so pleased until late Friday when I saw all the little prune lines here and there.  Oh, no! I was going to have to scrap and redo several areas of varnish.  So, at anchor in La Playa on Saturday, while David was off replacing a ball joint on Wesley, I scraped and varnished and crossed my fingers.  On Sunday, I saw that even more prune lines had arrived and mentally cursed at the windy and cool conditions we’ve been having.  I scraped and scraped more and then did another very thin coat.  Today, I admit defeat.  Even more prunes.  I will have to learn to just put a lot more thinner in the varnish and take the consequences of reduced gloss if it comes to that.

The “Varnish for Idiots” days are gone and this is a tough learning curve, I must say.