Sparky got an ebony stain and 7 or 8 coats on all sides of each board of clear polyurethane. Not long afterwards someone here recommended to someone else they read about a multi-year test report that Mark-k had done. The report was available on their website, which last I checked was gone. Had I known how well their recommendation was to use a marine spar varnish (?), I would have gone that route. My memory might be faulty on that particular option. So it might be best to search the SB for the many threads that I recall seeing since about 12 or so years ago. Some of those likely report the highlights of the testing.
The polyurethane finish looks great and has held up fine, but Sparky lives in a climate controlled shop and only sees CAVU weather when out and about. Based on the Mar-K testing that top coat choice would likely be regretted if storage conditions and practical usage were otherwise.
