John,

I have only built one boat and I do not claim to be an expert, but here goes. I believe that you are seeing the results of entrained air. One of the major reasons for squeegeeing the wet-out coat is to remove as much air as possible from between the tiny filaments of glass. This is why the excess epoxy removed by the squeegee is so milky, tiny bubbles.

If the sqeegeeing is done perfectly, the glass cloth will be stuck very tightly to the wood with NO trapped air and the cloth will not be visible under 99% of viewing angles. The reality with hand layups is that we never rid our cloth of ALL the air. Some microscopic bubbles remain to reflect and refract light, which leads to the weave being visible, I've heard it called shimmery. I suspect that you are not really seeing the glass at all, but instead, you are witnessing those pesky air bubbles.

Porosity does rob the glass job of some strength. For our purposes, paddling, the loss of strength is probably insignificant over the usefull life of the boat.

As for what can be done about it. Well, short of sanding it all down to bare wood again and starting anew, not much. Don't fret though. You and the folks you tell are the only people who will ever know. I find it amazing that the flaws that WE see clearly as builders are all but invisible to those admiring our wooden kayaks. A handcrafted 'yak, air and all, is worth a hundred factory glass/kevlar/carbon boats.

One last thought. Vacuum-bagging the wet out coat with a good breather ply is one method of removing all but the tiniest amount of trapped air. But really, "To look for Heaven, is to live here in Hell...." Ricci