After office hours, I made haste to the shop Monday early evening to begin the effort to apply those final coats of varnish to the newly fabricated brightwork. By far, the part of this task I enjoy the least is taping off the borders. In fact, of the 2.75 hours I spent at Biscuit this evening, over two hours was spent applying tape! I was able to tape off the rails (toe and rub rails), the coaming boards, and the taffrail.

The fresh varnish makes it all worth it in the end. With sunlight waning and most of the protective tape applied, I limited myself to build coats on the taffrail, toe rails and rub rails. I sanded the surfaces with 320-grit paper to remove the luster of the surface and to create some "tooth" to build onto. A quick wipe down with acetone, and I was off and running on applying varnish to all of Biscuit's rails. I worked bow to stern on the starboard side rails, pivoted to the port bow and worked back to the stern, and then finished up on the taffrail. Product used was Total Boat Marine Wood Finish, supplied by Biscuit's owner, and application was by foam brush.

Before closing up the shop, I managed to get another coat of varnish on the mast support collar plate.

Total Hrs: 2.75