From my perspective you've taken your surface prep a little too far and won't realize a return from the effort like you expect.

The comments about steel strands in the finish are correct and as they do rust they provide a path for water to get into your wooden hull. You might want to go back over the hull with your favorite 100 to 180 grit paper and vacuum the hull to get as many of the steel wool particles as you can.

When I'm in an obsessive mood, I have been known to wet out the hull with water, let dry and then scuff sand the raised grain prior to a glassing session.

Do take the advice about doing a sample piece with the epoxy/glass combo you intend to use and don't use a small piece to do it either. I suggest something on the order of a serving platter in size as a minimum. That way you will get more hands-on info about how the epoxy and glass behave when being worked some.

Your experience with other wood projects will help you to understand flow and feel with the materials. I'm sure you'll have a blast.

And finally, at the risk of sounding like a high school shop teacher, please use gloves, a respirator and eye protection when glassing your boat. This stuff has been known to cause ugly reactions with some people and it's not the kind of thing you need to find out the hard way. There's lots of data on the web about these circumstances as well as within the archives of this BBS.

Have fun,

Chris Ostlind