In my experience, if you want a cosmetically perfect finish, then you have to sacrifice a little in weight saving.

Ideally you want to have enought fill coat thickness before you start smothing for varnish that you don't sand into the cloth at all.

Of course, a fair surface to start with, and a well applied wet-out coat, where the glass is not floating anywhere and has no creases or wrinkles, makes all the difference as well.

As our boat collection builds up, we become more obsessed with perfection, just because it keeps us challenged. Otherwise, would we bother with yet another boat? But still, the odd imperfection is going to be present. Usually only we, or another builder will notice them. Everyone else is going to be suffering from beauty-blindness anyway, and after a few encounters with rocks, roofracks, stony beaches and the tender mercies of careless friends, well the concept of perfection goes out the window for good.

I get a couple of good photos of a boat directly after it is finished, for posterity, because I know it is never going to look so good again.

Et