Hi,
For structural and aesthetic purposes I'm planning on carbon skinning the deck of my sailing dinghy. The deck is currently marine ply.
However, I wondered if I could take the opportunity to do some weight saving at the same time by drilling a series of large holes out of the play before skinning.
If I do this, how can I skin? Can I cover the holes with something light such as vinyl or masking tape prior to skinning? Will this be enough to support it whilst it cures without showing imperfections? Will the bonding to the remaining ply be sufficient?
OR is there a specialist product that can be used to bridge the holes before skinning?
I have attached a (very) rough sketch to give some idea of what I'm talking about.
Many thanks in anticipation.

Ah, apologies, as I now understand your intention better

If the deck is not overly large, then perhaps bonding a ready-made sheet of carbon to the deck once you've cut your holes might be the easiest solution. Skinning is very labour intensive to get good results and, even if you happen across a clever solution for temporarily covering the holes you'd likely find that the carbon above the them wouldn't stand up well to too much load-bearing, unless the holes are very small.