Bow rail removal - small holes

[Tahoe540]

I decided to not put my bow rail back on after some detail work.

How would fill the 3/16 bolt holes. They go all the way through the deck and I have quite a few to do.

In the past I have used a dowel with epoxy to fill a larger size hole and just put a little gel repair over the top.

I have read a few options on the web.

Marine-tex
Just fill with gel-coat
Just epoxy
Resin with a filler (wood dust)

 

[lenmann]

I think it depends on how fussy you are about how it looks post repair.

If you want it perfect you need to grind a depression or dish around the hole to fill with CSM and resin, sand it flush, fill any pinholes and then gel coat to match the surrounding gel, color sand and polish. The bitch can be matching the gel color so sometimes it easier to regel a larger area So it doesn’t look like it’s got leopard spots.