One of the more common questions we receive is ‘what can I do to keep the dust out of my varnish?’ Nothing ruins your day more than checking on the varnish job you did the day before only to see a coat of dust sticking out like the Himalayas on your decks. One man actually told me he cried after putting in so much effort getting the boat ready, only to see what looked like someone shook a dust mop over the decks right after he applied his last coat.

I know the feeling. The only completely dust-free finishes I’ve ever seen are those boats that have been ‘buffed’. Then you can see the swirl marks in the sun…always a giveaway. I don’t know if it’s true, but I’ve seen information that suggests buffing greatly reduces the UV protection of the varnish. It’s for these reasons we don’t buff. Besides, boats from the factory always had a little dust in the finish.

Dust is surely the bane of anyone who’s ever finished a boat…or anything else for that matter. We have a specially constructed varnish room, and even then we still get specs of dust in our finishes. Quite frankly, we don’t worry about dust until the last few coats…and then a lot for the last one. Why sweat a little dust during the build-up coats when it’s going to be sanded down anyway?

Most people don’t realize the majority dust comes from you. It falls from your clothes, hair, skin, and hat if you wear one as you move around applying the varnish. We like to apply the last coat of varnish early in the morning wearing freshly laundered clothes after we shower. We wet the floor down the night before with quite a bit of water to catch all falling dust. The next morning we move slowly tacking off the boat one last time. We apply the varnish then slowly open and close the door to prevent even the slightest of drafts then leave the room until the next day. We also leave the fluorescent lights on as those lights create static electricity, which draws any dust in the air to them. The dust will fall from the lights if you turn them off. It took us a while to figure that out.

After you paint the deck seams and put on all the hardware most remaining dust becomes invisible within the clutter. In the end, don’t stress it too much…in the scope of all the problems in the world what’s a little dust in the varnish?

Happy boating,