Doing some research yesterday... Took my prepped hatch boards to my friend Jamie at Van's Refinishing here locally. Good guy, nice furniture finishing and restoration work. He repaired my coamings back when I restored the deck. He suggested stain, paste filler, varnish.
Then I saw this video from the Wood Whisperer http://www.thewoodwhisperer.com/vide...ode=posts&ap=1 who suggests shellac, gel stain, ...Shellac comparison / demo & then Minwax vs gel stain is the subject of the video.
Watched another helpful vid series on applying paste filler to mahogany https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQfm0nLXJ7Q
I suspect 100 videos, 100 opinions.
Decisions, decisions. Glad I'm not in a hurry.