Hi Bob,

Here's my thoughts: I would fill any cracks of the cracks greater than about a 1/64". If you don't you'll create air voids which will weaken the structure. Plain yellow glue or even plastic wood filler can be used but epoxy putter would be better. It's easier to get a color that matches. You're correct, hardened epoxy putty will be harder than the surrounding wood. It's easy to over-sand the wood surrounding the putty. I wouldn't try planing the epoxy putty. You'll dig into the wood. I would first use a squeegee and fill the crack as level as possible. When it's cured gingerly scrape off any high spots with a sharp cabinet scraper. Then use some new sandpaper and sand the whole boat smooth. Change the disks often. Old sandpaper will cut into the wood more than the putty.

Since you're planning on applying a seal coats coat of epoxy before glassing, here's another method that works. I did it on my early boats. Fill the cracks after the seal coat. For now, ignore the cracks. Finish sanding the hull, to say P120, then apply your seal coat. When cured mix up your epoxy putty and fill any cracks which the epoxy itself didn't take care of. Then sand. You'll have to sand the whole seal coat but everything will be the same hardness.

As always, we're here to help.

Dan

: 1. After sanding with the ROS, I feel pretty good about most of the strips
: flowing relatively seamlessly into each other. However, I do have a bunch
: of spots where there is a slight separation between the strips (a tad
: wider than an exacto blade). Should I just ignore that and assume that the
: epoxy will fill it?

: 2. For those seams that are a tad wider, is it best to cover with dookie
: schmutz then plane....then sand? Am thinking that if I just sand the
: difference between the epoxy fill and wood surface will create an uneven
: surface?

: btw.... I plan to seal the surface with epoxy prior to glassing.