Beauty of satin finish

[Creekboater]

I simply want to pass along how pleased I am with Interlux's Goldspar Satin varnish.

I've been thinking I might like a more matte finish on my brightwork so I bought a quart to play around with. I am almost done with varnishing my spars and haven't been tremendously happy with the gloss finish (Interlux Schooner Gold).

I sanded all my grits, yadda yadda yadda, but still below the gloss I see some waviness. It's not terrible at all, they really look pretty good. But it's enough that I thought now might be a good time to see what the satin looks like.

So I put one satin coat on top of 7 coats of gloss and I think it looks fantastic. Not only do I much prefer the subdued finish, the waviness below the surface is completely obscured.

In short, if you've been wondering what you might think about a satin finish, I highly recommend forking it out for a can to try. Below is a pic of my boom with satin finish, and in the background is aft end of the bowsprit in gloss. You can't see the waviness under the gloss in this pic, but it's a good contrast of the two finishes.

[Dmitriy]

Yes, the satin finish looks wonderful!

[Robblackburn]

I think a lot of the finishes that people do to their boats and then promote to all and sundry border on bullying.

I think a boat should look great at 3 paces, and superb at 150 m as it sails past. Not some museum artifact.

Satin looks great.