I am in process of sorting out a small wooden dinghy for the first
time, so no experience.

The boat itself is a garage find. I have removed all fitments and
cleaned down all paint leaving a bare wooden hull and I now need to
get the hull filled and smoothed prior to paint. The dinghy has been
raced and so it has had the usual bumps and scrapes. In one or two
places I am going to need to raise the profile of the timber so as to
remove a flat spot in the shape (so quite a large area). In other
places I am looking to fill small nail holes.

With the small nail holes, if they were wooden windows, I would use
putty and paint mixed to give a real smooth finish but there are all
sorts of proprietary wood fillers for the rest. Should I be concerned
about flexible wood fillers? Is putty doing to hack it in a dinghy?

Anyone got any thoughts/recommendations/experience/advice?

Best wishes
Stephen Page