: Would pre coating with unthickened epoxy minimize this problem?

Most definitely. I'm building my second yak right now and did I ever learn from the first: anything that could go wrong, did go wrong. I found that a so-called "penetrating" epoxy is the best. This mysterious no-blush epoxy isn't worth the money. take a couple days off to leisurely do your layers of glass. I put the sealer coat on the hull Friday evening, Saturday morning the first layer of glass on top of the sealer coat, then in the afternoon the second layer between the chines. So far, no problems. (Of course now that I said that a meteorite will come plowing through the roof, followed by torrential rains, then snow...)

-the Ever-Paranoid Tig