My advice is not to worry too much about small cosmetic stuff. When I built my kayak I wanted to do a perfect job and worried about all things that were not exactly the way I wanted them. A bunch of years down the road I love the way my boat paddles, still get plenty of comments on how nice it looks. And now even if I look hard I couldn't tell you which spots I was worried about when I was building.

Most of the parts of your cockpit that you will be able to see will be covered by your seat.

In a nutshell...if it will give you a blister when you paddle, sand it off. If it will leak, fill it in. If you want to build a piece of furniture, build a coffee table Finish your boat have fun paddling. When you build your next boat you will have the skills to do a much prettier job.

Cheers! Enjoy your build!!

Ken