TotalBoat Halcyon Marine Varnish | Water-Based Polyurethane Wood Finish | Clear Gloss UV Protection for Interior and Outdoor Use

I'm restoring an antique yacht and do a LOT of wood restoration, fabrication and finishing and have tried most of the common brands of varnish and alternative wood coatings. While I have developed my favorites I'm open to new ideas so I thought I'd give this a try. My first disappointment was that it came out of the container white as milk. I know from having to use water based polyurethanes with my students (low VOC), and those products are typically white, that I wasn't going to get the results I was hoping for. The product label indicted clear and gloss and in my experience it was neither. It dried to a satin finish, even after a couple of coats and perhaps it was my imagination, but it had "milky" undertones. After top coating with traditional amber varnish it looked better but still lacked the depth of a traditional varnish. The best part of this product is the re-sealable and easy pour packaging. It would be great if traditional varnishes could be sold this way although I doubt that it would prevent skinning over. I'll use this product because I have it, but it wont be in areas that are highly visible and I'm not likely to buy it again. And yes, I followed the directions!

I have used many, many finishes on my woodworking and woodburning artwork- to include almost every name brand spar urethane you can buy in stores. I can say without a doubt that most companies are getting it wrong and TotalBoat is getting it exactly right.1- It is extremely easy to apply and thin as needed with water2- It is CRYSTAL clear. This is very important for my work because it is painted artwork, and most spar urethanes yellow quite a bit or are amber in color3- Almost no smell to it and dries extremely quickly , as well as being very easy to sand and re-apply more layers4- The bag container is pure and simple genius. I have had to throw away so many cans of finish from dust getting in or just too much of it curing on the inside. I'm saving the bag when it's done!5 - TotalBoat has great customer service, I got this recommendation from a representative within a few hours of submitting a form talking about my issues in the past with other finishes. They even have videos on their site about the application of their productsIt has been about 6 months since I finished this project, and will update this review after a few seasons to talk about it's longevity outdoors in Scotland where it's installed!

For grins I took a piece of sanded oak and coated 1/2 of it with 3 coats. Then I left it outside all summer. The uncoated wood hadchanged colir and looked like it was beginning to rot. The coated end looked brand new.I’m looking forward to doing my tiller with it. Last time I did it was with a regular water based polyurethane and I’m not sure it lasted a season. I’ll report back next fall how well it lasted.I helped a friend of mine sand his campanion way stairs. Teak. 2 coats of the wood sealer followed by 3 coats of this. Still looks awesome after 1 year and ut was in a time share so it was getting used about every day.

I had never previously used TotalBoat Halcyon Clear, but decided to try it after watching a Youcanmakethistoo video. It is very easy to apply. I first used a foam brush, but found it difficult to apply evenly, so I switched to a foam roller. That's the way to go. It was ready for a second and third coat within an hour of the previous application. A light 320 grit sanding after coat 4 made my table top beautiful. But .. and maybe this was on me ... I had turned my table over before it fully cured in order to apply a couple of coats to the underside and when I flipped it again, I found a couple of spots where the finish had lifted. Bummer. But it was nothing that a little sanding and touching up didn't cure. The spots are invisible now. The durability jury is still out.

I found this varnish to have a different consistency and feel than regular oil varnishes. It looks funny in the cup, almost like milk. At first I thought I’d received defective product! I definitely recommend experimenting on some scrap wood to get the feel down. It is super easy to use once you get the hang of it and definitely dries very, very fast. So fast you really do need to work quickly to keep a wet edge. Because it dries so fast, you can get a whole bunch of coats down in an afternoon and it’s rock hard the next day.

Yes, it's expensive. But this is the easiest finish I've ever used. Last night I had something very quick to do. Put on three coats an hour apart. After lunch today I sanded it. Done! You don't need to sand between coats unless you wait to long to recoat. When coat#3 is dry, it will feel all stubbly (like someone who forgot to shave). But then, sanded with 400 grit, it comes out nice and smooth. I wouldn't use it for furniture, etc., but for things that will be on a porch, or cabinet bottoms that might get wet, etc., this stuff is great. I got the gloss, but would like to try a more matte finish next time.

Anyone who has ever varnished knows what air in the can does to the varnish once the lid is back on. Being able to pour out just a little and squeeze the air out of the bag to prevent contamination is a great idea. I ended up doing 6 coats on some teak trim and appreciate that it didn’t turn the teak wood a dark brown like other finishes.

Slightly flatter finish than high gloss varnishes I’ve used previously. More than offset by knowing the finish would be completely dry in a short amount of time. Good halfway between a satin and high gloss finish, looks appropriate for rails.