[Eric Roach]

I feel your epoxy pain. I've had the least amount of problems applying E-Tex (as far as covering sharp angles, preventing fisheyes & waves, etc), but I agree it wears fast. I've tried some epoxy additives to make it more durable, the one that affected the clarity the least was clear frit, which is the fine glass powder used for blowing glass. It might have made a slight difference, but I shied away from the risks of inhaling fine glass particles...Can't imagine the lungs like that too much.

I've used System 3 Clear Coat just once, and recently -- I was surprised how thin it was, but it definitely dired extremely hard. I did have some fisheye issues, but I don't think I let the acrylic paint fully dry first.

I tried System 3 Mirror Coat last night on a needle. Even though I had some warnings about brittleness I wanted to try it for myself. The surface ended-up an uneven mess, despite doing everything I know to get a nice finish.

It looks like all the common options have pros & cons. If I can't get some the Clear Coat nuances worked out, I'll probably go back to E-Tex.

Out of any plug I've ever used, I think Afterhours has the most durable finish; great top coat process he has there -- awesome quality. I think he mentioned before that this is an industrial coating of some sort.

I also have a spook from Striper Sniper which has held up through a lot of fish over the years -- not sure what he uses/used, but it might actually be a well-cured coat of E-Tex(?) Someone who used to work at Surfland told me that's what he used.

Good luck, please share another viable option if you find one.