By the way, while trying to decide what to do with my white spots, I thought of painting something over them. Sounds like you have more than a design may cover, but thought I would suggest what I was thinking of as designs to cover up the bad spots:

1.) Compass Rose (This can cover quite a bit of area)
2.) My initials
3.) The boat's name
4.) Chip Sandresky posted a really cool Inuit (?) drawing of an Orca
5.) Geometric design
6.) Country or local flag

I bought a gold paint pen and I'm going to use that to paint the boat's name on the bow. This one is not to cover anything, just something I wanted. They come in all sorts of colors. I did a test and it worked beautifully. It's so much easier painting with a pen than with a brush, especially lettering. I would varnish at least once, then paint. Then if it doesn't look good you can sand it off. If you like it, then finish varnishing the kayak and it will all be sealed. You could still go back and sand it off.

Just another thought, as I know exactly what it's like. Again, mine turned out to be a blessing, here's hoping yours will too.

-Malcolm