Btw, they aren't supposed to be carry handles (I know you've heard
: this before, sorry).

Actually, I haven't heard that. Explain please.
Just for towing? then why a handle on the end of the lines on commercial boats. I do know some have carrying handles as well but most don't.
And sometimes the boat is just slippery to hold the bow and stern.

I find strippers very venerable as far as dings and getting white marks in the fractured glass. Actually annoyingly so. If you drop a small stone on a stripper you will end up with a white spot. I wish there was a transparent fabric that wouldn't do that and can take a bang without the white fracture marks. I know it's because of the soft wood we use to keep weight down. And the lighter people make them the more likely this will happen. I use my boats. I do rescues and demos and they take a beating and I'm always touching up white marks with artist oil paint. It's the one major downfall or strippers unless you build them out of hard wood and sacrifice the weight.

As far as my cosmetic job on the tips: I may cut away the surface wood 4" back and do a casting out of maple dust and epoxy with no glass over it. Maple dust gives me a very dark chocolate brown plus I can add a pinch of graphite powder.