TotalBoat Gleam Marine Spar Varnish

Was a few days later receiving than expected delivery date. No instructions on can, but there is some online. Brush product on, and it does show brush strokes. Used lacquer thinner. Thinned 50/50. Overall I am very happy with this product, way better than other products out there. Used to refinish seats in Lund boat. Looks good and seems to protect wood well. Would look great if I sprayed it.

I used this on a couple live edge pine slabs for my dock bar. The stuff looks great & dried quickly for spar varnish. I brushed on 3 coats. It looked great, but a few hours later I notice one area w/brush marks & a couple that had almost a puddle, like it was too much in those areas. It seemed nice & dry so I took some sand paper & sanded those areas. All of those sanded areas sanded well. The product “talc-ed” up while sanding & didn’t load up the sandpaper with sticky fresh paint sometimes does. When paint is dry it dusts/talcs, if it’s not dry enough it’s gummy. This sanded well within 6 hours @ 90 degrees. Anyways, I wanted to apply another coat that evening so I brushed it on. An hour later I checked on it & was pissed to find everywhere I sanded it, the last coat wrinkled. Apparently, sanding the outer surface opened up the inner layer, which wasn’t quite as dry. The application of more varnish confused the inner that wasn’t as cured/dried & attacked it, wrinkling it. So I let it set for 24 hours, & then really sanded all the wrinkled areas with a DA sander w/150G, then 320G on the entire surface. Then I gave up on the brushing method & since I’ve got some nice spray guns from my auto body biz, I sprayed. Apllied more coats of Gleam, waiting a couple hours in between @ 95 degrees. Couldn’t be happier with the results. I don’t know why I tried brushing it. You’ve got so much more control with the gun. You do have to reduce it about 10-20% with xylene, which in California is thought to find, however Klean Strip makes a replacement product called Painters Solvent. It worked great.

A good, durable finish. Total Boat Gleam Satin is very glossy. I used it on the front door of my house, which is somewhat protected from the weather and after two years it looks like it did the day it was applied. I recommend it for a durable shiny finish.

I've used a lot of varnish -- both marine grade and standard outdoor varieties including Helmsman and Eplfanes. All have their advantages and disadvantages. However, I've never used one as nice as Gleam. This stuff is amazing. First, it's perfectly thinned right out of the can -- making it glide on so smoothly, you'll wonder if it's really varnish. The first 2 coats soaked nicely into the wood (deck railings / banisters). The third coat was where I noticed the most advantage over the others. It flowed onto the wood extremely smoothly without any brush tugging (waited until dry to the touch - about 4 hours at 66 degrees) and it stayed put - didn't run or begin to sag on vertical surfaces. But wait -- there's more. I just finished the fourth coat and using a natural bristle wood stains and finishes brush - it went down extremely smooth -- the bush glided along the wood like it was lubricated and still - at half the quart used -- it still needed no thinning. It was perfect. It was how the varnish glided so evenly onto the finish that impressed me so very much. Now, with all this said, I plan to put on two more coats and let it cure for several days (in the basement shop) before re-installing onto the deck. We'll see how it stands up to sun, rain and snow over the next year. Other finishes have only lasted 1-2 years. While I don't expect this finish to last more than 2 years, I certainly won't mind re-finishing once again with this GLEAM for it's excellent application qualities. Good stuff!

I purchased both the gloss and satin versions of this same varnish. I use in on teak in a marine environment. I am very pleased with it as it does not require thinning and applies very well. I used a foam brush, and I was very pleased with the results. You do not have to sand between coats, but I did use a scrub pad between coats. I poured out only what I needed for each coat. I did not experience any issues with runs or other defects. I do wish that satin version had a bit less gloss than it does. I'm very pleased, and both products will be my go-to varnishes in the future.