[CalebD]

As promised a few photos of our 'antlers' or grab rails undergoing treatment with Bristol Finish.
Having previously used varnish and Cetol this was my first attempt to use a 2 part urathane finish on my exterior wood. I will say that both varnish and Cetol are easier to work with.
Once I had cleaned off the old finish satisfactorily I opted to try the 'wet on wet' method to build up a bunch of coats quickly as the label suggests 6 or more coats in order to get the best longevity out of this product. The 'wet on wet' method allows you to put on a coat, let it dry a few hours and re-coat it without sanding between coats.
I mixed up about 4 ounces of BF at the 8:1 ratio suggested and began. It smells like nail polish. I used a clean cottage cheese container for the BF and sealed the lid between coats. By the time I had 4 coats on it the finish began to develop 'zits'; whether this was from using partially cured product or the result of lots of pollen in the air I don't know. I let the pieces cure for a day and sanded it with #220 grit paper. This stuff seemed more the consistency of partially dried snot and clumped into little pills or boogers after sanding. Wiping them off with a rag with denatured alcohol seemed to get them smooth enough for re-coating after sanding (see pics).
It is easy to get runs and irregularities with this finish and it probably did not help that these pieces are not in the least bit flat.
After the last coat I applied in these pics I re-installed the grab rails back on the cabin top as we launched the boat yesterday. I will have to put another coat or two of this stuff on with the grab rails on the boat which I was hoping to avoid.
My boat now has a mix of exterior wood finishes that will include Bristol Finish and Cetol and will be a living experiment to see how these finishes stack up against each other. Time will tell.