Like a lot of our “toys” they have doubled & in some cases tripled in price over the past couple of years.
Before “varnishing” the repaired deck on the “Mt Gay 30” RC Yacht, I spoke to a couple of old yachties with regard to what they used on wooden components & eventually settled on Spar Varnish “GoldSpar Original”. Whilst it is not cheap a little bit goes a long way with models and it supposedly has the best UV rating of any wood boat finishes.
On real boats it can’t be used on decks or any areas subject to wear & tear as it’s not hard enough and in real boats it is primarily used for masts, spars etc, that see very little wear & tear but are continuously exposed to the elements.
The one I used dries virtually clear and supposedly does not yellow over time so allowing the natural wood colour to shine through. Only real drawback is its very slow drying , it surface dries overnight but takes weeks to completely dry out and lose all its tackiness under pressure. Luckily the Mt Gay 30 “Badger” has been just sitting around waiting for the hull to be sprayed so the deck & cabin has now had plenty of time to dry properly.
Just need to get motivated to paint the hull & I could get her back on the water.