Ok, well I made it up today after work so that I could get the tape off the boat promptly. While I was there, well, um, I kinda finished the job:
Here is what I learned:
1) Don't panic. Yes, when you are sanding, you look like you are removing a ton of material. And then when you finish the 'dust' from sanding makes the whole surface look ugly. And if you wipe it all off, you will see that the whole thing looks scuffed and ugly. Don't panic. Keep going. I started with 320 (wet), then did 600, then 800 (both wet, of course). The first two I did with a block, the 800 I just did by hand, allowing the water to suck the paper to the boat. By the time I was done with all of that, it was still scuffed and ugly. Final two steps I used my Griott's buffer with the Griott's Machine Polish 1. As if by magic, when I did that, the surface was magically shiny and everything looked new. Then I did the Polish 2, just to clean it up a bit more. No scuff in sight.
2) Start with a clean boat. I didn't. Made it much more difficult to see things.
3) Those deeper gouges really need some extra material lumped on top of them. My deepest gouges are not fully repaired; they are just less deep and filled with red (so you see them less). Shrinkage was much more than I anticipated (glad I learned this before taking on the really large white section I need to do).
4) That last-minute plastic from the paper towels? It left its mark... from the ink on the other side of the thin plastic. Fortunately, it sanded right off with no issue.
5) The plastic not only served to flatten out the gel, but also seals the gel to allow it to cure. It does not cure in air well, so you need to cover it with plastic wrap or something. The stiffer plastics (like a thick sheet protector or report cover) push down the material and give you a flatter surface from which to start your sanding. But see #3.
6) That red does get everywhere while you are wet sanding. BTW, use lots of water on the wet sanding. You will be able to feel when you are done because there will be less resistance to moving the sandpaper over the boat.
7) The tiny scratches in the bow? They really did need to be widened in order to repair them. Even though they were not that deep. When I sanded, those nice white lines reappeared. Not as bad as they were, so no loss. But not fully fixed.
8) I think I put my tape too close to my repairs. That left the material up against the tape, making a ridge that then needed to be sanded out. I think had I left more space (as I did on one spot), I could have feathered it better and probably made sanding easier. One the ones that were against the tape I took off the tape to sand. On the ones that were feathered, I left the tape on for the sanding and removed it before polishing.
9) My results were not perfect. About 1/2 of the attempted repairs are flawless/nearly flawless. 1/2 of them are reduced and filled with color. I am not an expert, but I am sure that with another pass and some more practice, I definitely could be. Certainly more confident. If I spent more time and maybe did another coat, you would not see a thing. I will not hesitate in the future to try this fix.
To treat my boat for being so patient with her, I treated her to some Hot Sauce before putting her away.
End of report. Again.
