That’s two coats of Pettit Flagship Varnish, and one coat of Pettit Captain’s Varnish on the kayak. I still have the last coat of Captain’s Varnish to put on the hatch covers, but the Ronan construction is otherwise complete. I describe in detail the method I used to apply all of the varnish, in the earlier post about the first coat of varnish on the hull. I was going to do one more coat of the Captain’s Varnish so that the Ronan would have a total of four coats of varnish, but I just don’t have it in me. Pygmy says that three coats is sufficient for UV protection, and while I usually don’t stop at “sufficient”, this time I will. I figure that I’ll paddle it for a year or two as is, and then it will be time to re-varnish anyway. I’ll give this a couple of days to cure really well and then start putting on the deck rigging, foam on the hatch lips, back band and seat, etc. Exciting!

Same reminder as with the hull, the varnish will self-level over the next couple of hours and will look much smoother than it does in these photos, which were made immediately after I finished varnishing. There are a couple of little runs/sags around the cockpit coaming, but I have to let them go. I’ve done my best.