Varnishing Finished--Getting Very Close to Completion

The hull bottom and sides are all varnished and the varnish had plenty of time to dry while I was in California.  Here the board has been flipped right-side-up and the deck got it's final sanding prior to varnishing.

Another shot of the sanded deck from the stern.

After the first coat of varnish: the stern . . .  

and bow.  Very happy with the varnish except for some bubbles.  More about that later.

Some shots after the final coat of varnish: the bow, . . . 

                                                      stern, . . .

and the entire board (difficult to get a shot that does justice to its full 14-feet).

As I said above, I love this varnish (Minwax Helsman urethane) except I'm getting bubbles no matter what.  I don't think the problem is with the varnish itself though--I think it has more to do with the method recommended in the book.  I.e., the varnish is applied with a foam roller and then the bubbles are "tipped out" with a foam brush.  I followed that method and though I tipped the bubbles out multiple times, I still found some when I came back later.  My guess is the foam roller is creating so many bubbles that they continue to emerge after it is too late to do another tip-out.

Still, the finish looks very nice and I want to get the board on the water.  I may sand it down again later and try applying it with a high-quality bristle brush, as recommended by Minwax.  The only problem with that is that the deck pads and breather tube will be in place and it will be difficult to do a good job around them.  I'll probably leave it as-is.  The finish looks great--you have to run your hand over it to feel the bubbles.