After applying the sealing coat of epoxy over the bare wood, I use a scraper and apply the glass/epoxy all before the seal coat is 24 hours old. If the the seal coat is hard cured, 80 grit on the ROS. The less time between epoxy coats the better the bond.

On my recent kayak deck epoxy application, I applied the seal coat late Friday night with Raka fast hardener. The epoxy set hard enough to allow the raised grain to be scraped early Saturday morning. The glass cloth was applied immediately with slow hardener to get good wet out and good working times. The epoxy was set enough at noon to apply a fill coat with fast hardener. Additional fill coats were applied Saturday late afternoon and late evening. Makes for a full day of it but it assures good bond between coats. Its better than having to sanding between hard coats to get the mechanical tooth for bonding.

Then by scraping the final fill coat after 24 to 48 hours, before it gets too hard, I eliminate the dust pimples and any orange peel texture that the tipping out left behind. This reduces the sanding required after hard cure for the varnish preparation. The final scraping also makes a smoother less wavy surface than just sanding.