I decided to finish the boat with automotive clear coat paint instead of varnish. I liked the idea of doing all the coats in the same day, instead of a week. I hung it up, because I was afraid to rest the kayak down on new coats of paint. I went through five cans of clearcoat, using about one can per coat. The coats seemed rather thinner than I wanted them to be, but I avoided runs & drips. I hope the coating is thick enough to be sanded & polished out.
Wet-sanding an 18' kayak goes much better when done in the backyard. I sanded with 500 and 1200 paper, then used the R.O.S. with a foam pad-rubbing compound, then polishing compound. It looks more like a semi-gloss finish at this point.
After a whole lotta sanding & buffing, I decided that I didn't like the look that I was getting. I used the wax remover, sanded one more time with #1000, and went for varnish.
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