It seems like along about the end of August, every year INCLUDING when we were rebuilding the boat and in the boatyard, once we put caprails on the boat (uh, that would be during 2008) we’ve been varnishing right about NOW. End of August. Sure, we’ve varnished in the spring and at other times. The “big varnish job” always seems to come along in late summer. It goes from high gloss to less high gloss and we know–get some more on there! I don’t wait for the varnish to fail, I just go for it. This August, in search of varnish inspiration, I turned to others who have written about it on their sailing blogs. All sailors seem to have a “varnish position” similar to a political statement. The bare wood vs oiled wood vs Cetol vs high gloss–they’ve all their bit staked out and they do surely OPINE about it. There’s a great post about all the varnish opinions here on another sailor’s blog: Varnish Insanity

I learned from taking care of our house that you really need to stay ahead of things while keeping it all simple. Simple says to me to put on some varnish and do the upkeep. Don’t think about it, don’t worry about it, just DO IT. So, since those fateful decision days in 2008 when I decided what to do, I’ve been varnishing a bit here and there several times a year and then having a big varnish ‘fest in late summer. David and I agreed that we’d keep up the varnish and if it got to be too much, we’d selectively paint things. So far, the expanses of woodwork remain shiny varnished.

Lots of things to varnish aboard Mahdee…