Rene,
I concur with the use of the needle, and glassing on a still green fill coat.

If I have learned anything in boat building it is this.

Its good to sweat the details

Perfection is the tool of the devil

The medium is very forgiving

The boat builder is still human

I think most of us lose a good deal of enjoyment in our first boat because we are sweating every detail and then obsessing about the imperfections.

( OK maybe not everyone but certianly me )

Its good to sweat the details. But when the little impefections come to pass recognize that there is ussually a work around and us dern yankees ussually find 'em

The hardest thing some times is to figure out weather the fix is going to make the situation worse. For the most part, most errrors in boat building can be sanded out and redone. But, some sign of your humanity is inevitable in any boat.

with the possible exception being Joe Greenley's boats... (I'll admit to seeing perfection at work in his work. And his codependancing of so many boat builders is further proof that the devil is indeed at work in Joe greenleys boat shop and fingers....

However for the rest of us mortals....

Rene, 27 years ago, there was a young fella who was apprenticed to an Amish Wheelwright making buggies. The old Germamn master kept kept an ice pick on his work bench. He would examine every piece he made, and if he found it was pefect.... he would leave a small nick in some hidden piece. The apprentice watched this day after day all summer long, first watching the white bearded man's practiced technique, then watched as the old fella steel through a piece eyeballing every detail and then if he found silents put a nick in it in some hiden portion. After a while the young buck fianlly mustered up the courage to ask the master what was up with the ice pick. In three sentences the old dutchman pointed outthat Perfection was for God alone, leaving only humility for mortals. and that the seeking of perfection was a gate way for the devil to enter ones soul.

On the last day of the apprenticeship....the old German came over to the young apprentices bench and handed him an ice pick. Tugging on his suspenders, the old fella told the apprentice that he wasn't good enough to use it yet.... But he thought some day he'd be needing it.....

Today that ice pick sits promenently in the once appretice's shop safely ensconced on the wall.... Today,... that once apprentice is still trying to sweat the details, and learning from his mistakes. Make each one a little better.... And the ice pick?.... Well it sits prominently over his tool bench. It reminds him of the day 27 years ago that the master indicated that someday he just might hold some promise.....that some day he just might be good enough....

Rene, Anyone who has ever seen one of my boats will tell you my humanity is safely intact. The devil has yet to find a perfect home in my shop, and still they float and are hopefully pleasing to the eye of some.. and.......in 27 years Well try as I might.....I have never had to resort to Mr Zook's ice pick on anything I have built. There's still bubble's in the epoxy an nicks in the steel. Still....someday perhaps....

Enjoy the process

!RUSS