Some time ago there was a discussion on aniline dyes to stain under epoxy. They are water soluable and will not interfere with the epoxy/wood bond like oils will. They dangerous and should be handled with care. See: http://www.greenval.com/FAQstaining.html for more details. They only surface dye the wood and would be impossible to selectively dye strips and not lose the color with sanding. For putting a color wash on the entire hull after sanding they would work fine. I used them on a strip canoe to color water putty (instead of puttying with epoxy) and they worked fine.