I just wanted to let all of you who offered great advice know how things went with the Merganser.

I decided to drape the 3.75 oz plain weave fiberglass on the hull the night before wetting out. The next day I mixed miniscule batches of MAS slow hardener epoxy (it's too cold outside to run to the shop and chack on acual pump volume). I ended up working both sides of the hull, starting at the bow, and ending at the stern. For me, applying the resin with a brush turned out to be the easiest method. I worked in about 1 foot sections on alternating sides. After initially completing about 3 feet of the hull, I could epoxy one section on bith sides, and then go back three sections to squegee any excess resin. I did not use a sealer coat and had no problems with starved glass. This whole process took about 3 hours.

12 hours later, I could scrape hig spots of resin with a cabinet scraper. I decided to add some reinforcing glass sections under the cockpit area and along the keel line, because I can't put the kayak in the water completely before I get in (The river floodplain gets so muddy that it is easier to push out after entering the boat).
24 hours after applying the reinforcment, I scraped the hull again with the cabinet scraper and worked carefully to taper some of the edges of the applied patches. I made a final pass at feathering the edges with the ROS, moving quickly to avoid heat buildup.

This prepared the hull for another coat of resin to fill the weave. After starting with a brush application first, I quickly switched to a squegee. This was much faster and a lot more even. The feathered edges are still a little visible. I'm hoping to put another coat on tomorrow. If the edges still show, I will try to sand them some more, and apply another coat.

So far so good, Mister Murphy must have been on Vacation...

Thanks everyone,
Angela