Plank on Frame Sailing Ships

I am currently building the Swift 1805 by Artesania Latina, and is my first large scale ship (appx 1/30). I have been using the book Historic Ship Models by Wolfram zu Monfeld and find it and invaluable resource for this kind of period ship model.

So far, so good. The hull is fully planked, and I am getting ready to seal it and proceed to the deck fittings and rigging

If anybody out there has built one of these, I would like to hear what was used to laquer the hull. I am afraid that if I use a regular wood laquer that I would have to keep re-sanding and re-sealing the planking, and the planking is soooo thin I would do more harm than good. Im taking photos of my progress and will post them eventually along with my last boat, Tamiya's USS Missouri in 1/350 with Gold Medal PE details. That monster only took 3 years to complete