From my experience, this is something that should be done as soon as possible, providing the boat's dry. I made the mistake of putting this off, and spilt a bit of oil and power steering fluid on the unsealed timber whilst fitting the engine. The affected wood had to be planed off, and where that wasn't possible, delicately pared off with a chisel.
I used epoxy resin, in most places just one coat, and that has provided a very satisfactory seal. I did the sternmost part of the boat in the middle of winter, after removing the SR20. It was raining incessantly, so I made a frame under the boat cover so water wouldn't drip through, then put a halogen worklight and dehumidifier under a piece of old carpet to facilitate drying.
This worked very well, and I was able to seal the rearmost part. For the rest, I again called upon my good buddy Cal, who provided his garage for a coupla days to dry, then I was able to seal the whole bottom in about 4 hours.
Its not a very difficult job, I would recommend vacuuming the hull carefully, and using disposable brushes. I think I used about 10 in the process, and maybe 5L or so of resin.Also, epoxy is a mild irritant and gets worse this way the more you use it, so gloves and possibly overalls are a good idea!
Boring, but neccessary. Onwards and seawards!
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