Thanks for the feedback!
[edit]:
Ended up doing it with a shop rag. As I applied the poly with a brush I got instant bubbles. No earthly reason why, I still can't figure it out. So I gave up and did it the only other way I could imagine.
Though it's not as uniform as I would have liked, and I'll need to do another coat, it looks pretty decent.
And it only took 3 hours for the effects of the fumes to wear off.