Time to Start the Finish
Finally. I've gotten the interior sanded to my satisfaction and it is time to start with the finish. I'm using a water borne finish, "Exterior 450" by General Finishes for the topcoat on this boat. I think it is classified as a water borne urethane and is part of a group of finishes that I have fallen in love with. I mentioned earlier how hard it is to keep the floaties in the air out of a solvent based varnish because varnish takes so long to dry. That isn't a problem with the water borne finishes because they dry so quickly. I'll spray the topcoat with a High Volume Low Pressuure sprayer system which does a really good job with these kinds of finishes.
There is a drawback to using these finishes which I have found a work around for. The finish looks like condensed milk in the can but not quite as thick and when applied over bare wood, often times the best color of the wood doesn't come through. My way around this is to apply a diluted coat (or coats) of a solvent based varnish or urethane. I thin 5 parts varnish to 1 part thinner so it soaks into the wood and dries more quickly than if it was full strength. I've had good luck doing this and it is worth the extra day it takes for the varnish to dry. The color and grain of the wood have a chance to "pop" with the oil based foundation. If things go well I can get 2 or 3 coats applied in a day. Then I'll have to flip the boat over and finish sanding the exterior before finishing.
This picture is of the boat with a coat of thinned varnish.