[Paddlewise] Boat maintenance questions

I've just purchased my first fiberglass kayak (a 10 year old VCP 
Pintail) and I have a few maintenance questions:

While the hull is sound, there are a few deep chips/scratches in the 
gel coat (deep enough to expose the underlying fiberglass) that I 
would like to repair.  I'd like to do the repairs myself so I'm 
looking for recommendations on a book covering fiberglass repair.

The black strip that covers the deck-to-hull seam is chipped or 
scraped away in several locations.  What is this material?  Is it 
structural or just cosmetic?

The deck lines are quite loose, the skeg rope is quite stiff (it 
doesn't release very well), and the deck elastics don't have much 
stretch.  I'll be replacing all these lines.  The deck lines and skeg 
rope both appear to be standard 4 mm braided cord -- any 
recommendations from the list on both the types of rope / bungie 
material would be appreciated.  Also, how tight should I make the 
deck lines?

While the hatch covers have some surface cracking, they 'look' good 
on the inside.  It there a way to repair these (how about that 
spray-on plastic stuff used to coat tool handles?) or should I just 
replace them?  Also, the rear hatch is missing the elastic bungie 
ring that goes into the groove around the hatch's perimeter - what is 
the best way to make a new ring?


Thanks, Brian
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