you shouldve taken the whole boat down and checked out what you had. then you can work from there. also, everything should be done one step at a time meaning=
1. remove existing material
2. do all of your heavy work.
3. now start blocking with whatever grit you feel it needs. most likely start with 80 and work all the way up to 320 where it is ready for paint or 180 where it needs primer.
4. whatever glass is showing through, spot prime the boat.
5. block out the spot primes up to 320
6. seal the whole boat
7. paint the whole boat

film thickness is your worst enemy. keep it low as possible.

Thanks 302!

What do I use to seal the boat?

For the film thickness... are there any signs that it's too thick?

it lookes like you sprayed the whole boat with something right??? what is the current covering or the last thing you have done to it??

Pretty much, some areas where it was straight glass or dark it took a few coats to cover it. It seemed that the glass was really soaking it in. I used awlgrip 545 reduced 20% and used about 3/4 gallon. Sure I may have put down some primer where it wasn't completely necessary. Will it fail due to this?

I'm not going backwards. I'm block sanding with 320, filling in pinholes and other minor stuff with glaze. A few places I'll need some more finalfair. then the topcoat which is awlcraft 2000. Awlgrip does not have a sealer listed as part of the process.

the awlgrip 545 is a sealer and should have been sprayed over a filler primer. if done right the 545 could have been sprayed the next day without sanding. the reason for spraying the 545 is to keep any different colors from showing through. do not use glaze or finalfair on top of the 545. in the sun it will show through unless you spot the 545 back over it. dave is way smarter than i am when it comes to this so see what he has to say.

ok to make things more confusing lol...

i do all my body work first and using guide coats and a marine rasper by hutchins,http://www.jamestowndistributors.com...al-sander.html
I dont like using 36 ot 40 grit unless its bare fiberglass..i will straighten with 80 then guide coat and go over it with 120..im not use to awlgrip 545? i like duratech products..
prime with the primer you have (3-4 heavy coats straight not thinned and i let it set up for a week)then start with 180 on a
36'' hand board,i like to use a hand board because the rasper can cause a low spot on a big area in a hurray..
after i block with 180 i put on another guide coat and go over it again with 220 grit until all the guide coat is gone..
next i will mix up the primer and reduce it 10% then spray another 2 coats on, add another light guide coat and wet sand with a 12'' wet sanding block or the rasper with 400 sand paper..as long as you dont brake through the primer when sanding it you wont need to put a sealer on..i never sealed a car or a boat,as long as its clean and Greece free it will be OK to paint..

the 545 he sprayed is an epoxy primer/sealer.......not high build by any means and he still has body work to do. the order in which he did everything got messed up. he shouldve never even thought about touching a spray gun until all the bodywork with glazing/fairing compound was done....

The only place I need to do a little more work is to the windscreen. It's not much. I tried and tried and tried to get it perfectly flat and was getting nowhere. The fairing work I still need to do might add up to a 1/4 cup of goo. I'll spot prime it. It's at the crease of the windscreen on the side. The front looks like a pro did it.

this is what works for me,if you find a low spot and just fill that low spot you will end up with 2 more low spots before and after the first low spot..find all the problem areas,fill them,lightly sand them flat then smim coat the whole side of that area..use a hand long board and sand down the whoe area flat again..i takes longer doing it by hand but the results are amazing,you can cotrol what you are doing..

Whatever you do just make sure whatever your laying your paint over is one color or it will show through and you will want to shoot urself