Nick,

In your plans you show covering the inside of the control box with a piece of fiberglass cut on the bias. I tried this and couldn't ever get the corners to stay put. After 30 minutes of messing with it I ripped it out and just left an even coating of epoxy on the inside. I'd think it would be safe to leave this unglassed, much the same as the skeg knob and handles are epoxied/varnished but not glassed. Seems like glass/epoxy is more for strength and abrasion resistance. If an area is already strong enough by itself and won't see much abrasion, is the glass really necessary?

I'm also toying with the idea of trying Etienne's method of glassing the inside of the deck first, installing Maroske fittings and the skeg control box, and then glassing the outside of the hull. If epoxy doesn't seep through the glass into ET's fittings, it probably won't seep into the control box. Would leave the seam where the control box meets the deck cleaner and stronger. Could probably drill a hole big enough to insert a flush trim bit to trim the glass back flush with the inside edge of the box.

Also, one change I made when making the control knobs: I cut the knobs exactly to the square shape, drilled the holes, and filled with the epoxy/silica mixture. When I came back the next morning the epoxy had settled almost 1/2 inch below the top of the knob. These first knobs where also made of Cherry and the epoxy was tinted black with a bit of carbon powder. The epoxy ended up soaking into the Cherry and didn't look very good. On the second attempt I switched to Wenge and cut the knobs twice as tall as necessary. After filling with the epoxy mixture I cut the knobs down to the correct height, cutting off the area where the epoxy had settled over night.

Greg