: I have been sanding the hull of my Spring Run. I used a long board and ROB
: with 80 grit, worked my way up to 100 grit. I thought I would be epoxying
: by the weekend. I took a wet rag to the hull to see what it would look
: like. The wood and pattern looks great.

: Unfortunately, there were a number of areas where I could see long traces of
: glue between the strips. I assume anything that the water shows will show
: through the epoxy. I found that I can sand and scrape to eliminate the
: glue in some areas, but what are my options where the strips were not
: tight and there is glue all the way through?

I doubt you are going to save these types of flaws at this point. The more you sand and scrape, the more Harm you may do your faired hull instead of good. Since you have it faired to your satisfaction, every place you scrape or sand further will leave hollows and flat spots. And the fact is, the damage is done and really can't be fixed with any reasonable effort. However: From my experience in the cabinet field, when you finish that boat Bright, 98% of the folks that see it will not look that close to see the glue spots. They see the bright beautiful wood grain. Of Course there are those 2% that will take out their magnifying glass and look over every detail and if they are going to do that, they will pick apart any grain mismatch, scratch, bubble or any other tiny thing they can find. And you can find them on about any boat you look at if you look hard enough. So, let them. Chances are they have never built anything worth speaking of, and if they have, they probably had flaws in that too.

: 2nd question: If I am planning to use some wood flour and epxoy to fill a
: couple of gaps, wouldn't it make sense to do my seal-coat on the hull
: first and fill in the gaps with flour/epoxy later? If I use the
: flour/epoxy first, won't it dis-color the hull?

Don't know about the exact procedure as I've never done either, but I can tell you from experience that getting your filler to match the existing wood they will be used on is not the easiest thing to do. It usually takes some experimentation, as most fillers will color darker than the actual wood. Reason being is that the wood surface is generally harder than the sawdust or flour and will not soak up the moisture at the same rate. Also possibly, the heat generated from the cooking epoxy will discolor the flour more than the wood surface. ?? Guessing on that one!!

I don't think I would worry about the glue areas that go all the way into the gaps, and be careful how much you sand on the others. Sometimes you just have to live with the imperfections and go on to another project with " more experience." They could probably be fixed, but.... Not without causeing some other situations or using way too much time and effort for what you are attempting to hide. Hope that helps! Just don't be discouraged, as like I said, most people aren't even going to notice. They WILL notice a big patch of off color filler before they notice a glue line.

Rehd