..., but the best way to learn is to find someone
who is doing it and watch them or offer to assist
them to learn the techniques. It's a difficult to
grasp skill if you are trying to learn it only
from a book, but you will catch on quickly if
you can watch or help someone else who is doing it...

Yes, I understand this. We can learn knowledge from reading a book; but
we can only learn a skill from experience. When we have added hardener
into epoxy, the clock will start ticking. And we will be under time
pressure to get the work done. People like me who don't have experience
with handling epoxy can make some mistake along the way.

The problem is that I am far away from any boat-repair shop, and my
neighbor's boat is made in aluminum. I think I will try to compensate
my lack of experience with watching some videos on boat building and
repairing.

Serious structural damage will usually require so
much time that it won't be worth trying to repair
it. Finding another boat may be far easier and
cheaper.

Thanks for the suggestion. I will stay away from boats that have
extensive damage in the bottom of the hull. I can see that trying to
repair a large area in the bottom of the hull can be more than a bit
tricky. But I will not hesistate from replacing the transom of a boat;
this task seems quite manageable.

Jay Chan