How about tainting your epoxy to the color you want, so the color goes all the way through? The scratch may not show as much??

: Hello. It's been more than a year since I posted here. I was building the
: Wineglass Wherry then. I am slowly getting ready to build a Pygmy Coho.
: Hopefully I'll get to start around September. My wherry was painted on the
: outside and after a year of use it shows many scratches of landings on the
: rocky shores of Maine Lakes and rivers. I was wondering whether the hull
: would hold up better to scratches had I painted the wood first and glassed
: over afterwards. One obvious argument is that the epoxy would not bond to
: painted wood but I was wondering whether anyone has done that with
: success?

: Thanks,

: Rene Braun

: P.S. Here is a picture from last weeks trip to Lobster Lake