We've had difficulty with varnish in Ireland's wet climate. While we were in lockdown and couldn't visit Aleria for more than a year, her cover blew off and the brightwork took a beating. 

So this year we asked the shipwright in Kilrush, Steve Morris, to strip and repaint our brightwork topsides. He recommended switching from varnish to a product from International paints called Woodskin. We trust Steve explicitly and immediately said yes. As they say on their website: "Woodskin is a one-component oil/varnish hybrid which provides a natural-looking semi-gloss finish. The microporous technology enables the wood to breathe. Woodskin is easy to apply and really penetrates into the grain providing a more flexible coating."

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We've now had it on through the summer, and I just put on a second coat. It is slightly runny but very easy to apply. It cleans up easily if it drips. I am seriously impressed. I hardly used any of the tin and finished the entire coaming, handrails, and companionway. It looks so natural. At first, I was a bit unhappy with the slightly matt finish but now I am thrilled with its performance. It really does seem to breathe so moisture doesn't get trapped underneath, which is the problem we had with varnish. The colour is quite natural and pleasing.

The advice was to pick a day when the coat would have at least 24 hours to cure without rain. Given that we are having a heatwave, it was the ideal day to do the deed.

Vice Commodore, OCC