Okay, I finished "de" and "re" glassing my Outer Island deck. Total time was 16 hours and 25 minutes. That included grinding and sanding the old glass, filling some gaps that opened as a result, re-prepping the surface, glassing, and two fill coats. It was a frightening thought at first, but turned out to be not such a big deal. Like Nike says "Just do it".

Next time (if there will ever be one), I think I can cut considerable time out of the process. I got the hang of de-glassing with very little left to actually do. So, I can cut probably another 4-5 hours out of the process.

The whole process was started last Monday after work, and was complete Sunday morning, so it was just shy of a week.

Was it worth it.... YOU BET! First, the deck looks MUCH better. All the slpothces are totally gone - I'm excited about the boat again! I do have two locations where you can see a seam where I ended one pot of epoxy and had to mix another, but they don't jump out at you - you have to be looking right at it and then actually notice it. I had to point them out to my wife. I can easily live with them, particulary as a first boat. Second, I feel much more confidant about glassing now. I've applied it, ground it off and re-done it. At this point, "repairs" and so forth won't be imtimidating at all, and I know what the glass looks and feels like when it's coming off the boat. All in all, a great experience, for minimal time and expense. A good skill builder and confidance booster. That, and my work mates think I'm some sort of boat building God or something. Shhhhh.... they don't know that I'm really just a first time rookie :-)

Thanks to everyone who offered advice along the way - particularly Jay Babina with lots of back channel advice and encouragement.

Rick