Light at the end of the tunnel

With the BB firmly on her trestles I could not wait to get the first coat of varnish on. A final rub down with fine grade sand paper, then a going over with the vacuum cleaner followed by a full wipe over with tack cloths to remove the dust and then the brushes came out.

The varnish we have chosen is a new polymer marine varnish called 'Coma Berenice', it has a good specification and is widely used in the USA where HMG marine products have a firm following. It is lighter on the brush than conventional varnishes and easier to work with in low temp's.

HMG recommend that the first coat is only thinned 10% and then follwing coats are used at full thickness. The conventional varnishes we used on the Jollyboat started at 30% thinned, then 20%, 10% and only at the fourth coat did it come straight out of the tin for the last 3 coats. I am hoping that 'Coma Berenice' will live up to it's claims that only four coats are required for a comparable finish

Of the three finishes available, clear, blonde and mahogany we are putting two coats of the mahogany on followed by two or possibly three coats of clear. The boom (not illustrated) has had three coats and looks like it has a glass coating. Rubbing down between coats will done with 3M wet and dry. The mahogany stain varnish has also been used on the cockpit coaming to give a better colour to the new timber.

To help the varnish dry we have got a couple of oil filled radiators pushing some heat out. I am keeping my fingers crossed that we will be able to rub down and varnish every day to get four coats on.

The only piece of the boat that requires attention is the mast, there are one or two minor problems to sort out and a few fittings to organise but it should come together well.