: I'm going to be attaching some wood fittings on my hatch covers to act as
: pressure points for my hold-down straps (ala Pygmy's instructions), but
: I've already varnished the boat - 6 coats so far. Should I sand down thru
: the varnish, then use thickened epoxy to attach those wood fittings? Or
: would using some Marine Goop (contact cement) to the varnished finish work
: okay?

: any advice is much appreciated.

Sand through the varnish and use the epoxy. If you are careful with your sanding you can onfine it to the area where you will be gluing, and not mess up the surrounding area's varnish. Then you won't need to revarnish things!

Masking tape works for a short period of time as a protectant. Place your fitting where you want it, and outline the position with a single layer of masking tape. sand a few seconds in the area and you'll get up some of the varnish, and a bit of the tape. Put on new tape, sand a bit, and repace the tape again as needed. The varnish is fairly soft and should come free from the underlying epoxy before you run out of tape.

Leave some masking tape in place when you glue on the fittings. any excess will squeeze out and sit on top of the masking tape. Once the epoxy sets, and while it is stll "green" use a razor blade or an xato knife to cut through the squeeze-out. When you peel off the masking tape that excess should come off neatly, giving you a neat looking job.

If your fittings just happen to be round make a sanding disk the same diameter and use that to go through the varnish. Cut a disk of wood the same diameter as the fitting and screw and/or glue that to the end of a short dowel. the dowel gets chucked into an electric drill, and you use rubber cement to glue a disk of coarse (80 grit) sandpaper on the wood disk. Get the drill up to speed and you just have to touch this to the spot you want your fittings for a few seconds and the sandpaper will remove the varnish and scuff up the underlying epoxy enough to give you a good bond.

Hope this helps

PGJ