Don,

I used Varathane on my son's kayak and I'm very disappointed with the results. I posted about this a while back, see the link below.

Rehd, on the other hand, has had great results with Varathane's water based spar finish. If I remember correctly, Rehd lives in a very dry area of the country. I live in Miami, FL and it's usually very humid here. Maybe it requires very dry conditions to cure completely.

In my experience with it, it doesn't like water. If it's wet for a while, it turns into a cloudy/milky coat over your kayak. On my son's kayak, it stays a bit cloudy even when it's dry.

The other thing I noticed is that the wood (WRC) on my son's kayak had darkened quite a bit under the Varathane. The wood on my kayak has also darkened, but it has seen much more UV exposure.

Next time, I'll probably use an automotive clear coat.

Pedro Almeida