: I think I'm going to use some wood filler to fill in some gaps on my stripper
: prior to sanding/epoxy.

One thing I just tried on my current build was to sand the hull, apply a seal coat of epoxy and THEN fill any gaps after the epoxy had cured. There was no question about matching colors. The epoxy itself fills a lot of the hairline cracks. I didn't have many wider ones to speak. The handful I had were thin, say less than 0.5mm. The filler also squeegees off nice ad level with the surrounding surface so you have no post sanding. Any really ridges could be scraped off. Worked great.

If your gaps are really wide (ie the strips aren't touching anywhere along a section) you'll need to fill them before trying to sand. The ideal solution is to use thin pieces of wood. If you don't fill them you might end up sanding one side more than the other. It'll be easy for things to get out of fair real quick.

Dan