The number of coats really doesn’t mean anything unless you mention what kind of epoxy you are using. I use two different epoxies that are totally different. One is as thick as maple syrup, this epoxy will usually fill the weave in one additional coat. The other is just a little thicker than water and it often takes me five or six coats to fill the weave. The first kayak I built I lightly brushed on the additional coats and just couldn’t get rid of the weave on some of the vertical areas. I finally took Nick’s advice and sanded over the textured area and hit no glass. As I’ve gained experience I use a squeegee almost all the time, it really seems to work well at forcing the epoxy into the low spots. If the area is to tight and I can’t use a squeegee I go with a brush and make sure I work the epoxy into the weave.

The varnish will hide nothing, in fact it will highlight any imperfections.

Feathering the edge of the tape should not be a problem. Just touch-up the area with epoxy after sanding and any glass that is showing will vanish. The only time I have had any problem is when I did not take enough care in cleaning off the sanding dust. After applying epoxy I found little white spots where there was a small pocket of dust.

Hope It Helps