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.

In this project, and the one I am working on at the moment, I did exactly that. I have done it with 4 oz close weave and with loose weave 4 oz. just don't over work the wet out coat in that area.

I did glass the inside walls of my skeg boxes. One cannot easily get into them once they are finished. But I did that before putting them together. The spacers between the box walls are not glassed. Just a good resin coat or three. Glassing the outside walls, if you are using ply, is not really necessary.

I use a utility knife to cut out the slot when it is all set up, fill coats and all, and then just a careful brush up with sandpaper on a bit of strip to get it all smooth and even along the sides.

If you have not seen it here is my skeg method breakdown. It shows how I seal the inside of the box to the hull cutout. I am a little paranoid about water penetration. I don't like doing repairs. I'd rather be working on a new boat.

http://etiennemuller.com/SkegProject.pdf

If you are going to glass inside first, then you should be aware that the glass layup will contract as it sets and pull the side walls in slightly. For this reason I glass outside and then the inside of the hull before joining the deck. The hull will flex out as the glass sets up, but then I find that the hull returns to shape when the inner glass goes on and sets up. Of course, spacers help too.

With the deck, you will probably find that, if you glass inside first, it will contract inward slightly. (I am talking about a quarter inch typically, if it is a fairly rounded deck). For this reason it is easier to assemble using a sheer clamp, as the deck can be flexed outward over the sheer clamp and pressure will be applied to squeeze out the glue when released. This worked very well with my current build.

If you are not using a sheer clamp then carry on as usual, pushing from inside and squeezing from outside as required. Being glassed on only one side, you will find the deck more flexible and more amenable to adjustment.

The only thing I would say, to finish, is that IT IS PROBABLY UNWISE to cut out the hatch openings (especially if they are large ones) before the outside is glassed. Glassing them separately may cause them to distort to a different shape to the deck and ruin your seal. I can't be sure, because I have never tried it, but I would be willing to bet on it.

If you are cutting out hatches after joining up the halves, then make sure your skeg cable casings are not in the line of your jigsaw blade.

To get the skeg box really well secured and waterproofed is a fair bit of extra fiddly time consuming work, and I then use it only rarely, but when I do need it, for those long, long quartering crossings in following seas, especially if I am with a group of other paddlers, boy am I glad I went to the trouble.

Et