Scratches / Rudder / thru hulls

I pulled my boat for the winter. I have questions for the group about 3 things: Scratches: I noticed a few scratches in the gelcoat (must have been that sailing group Jerry mentioned j/k). A few are real small (less than 1/4 round), but at least one is roughly 6" long scratch. I read somewhere that when addressing these types of things, rather than using gelcoat, it is recommended to use epoxy or even fairing compound. I suppose if I used epoxy, I would make a half moon of tape, fill the scratch and later sand off the excess. Should I then use some gelcoat to color match? Rudder: I didn't take off the rudder. Is it a good idea to do so? If so, I'm not sure there is enough clearance to pull it out. Is the rudder stock long? Thoughts on whether it's a good idea to remove it? Thru-hulls: my cal has 3. One for galley sink, second is seawater to sink (via non-functioning whale pump) other for sink in head. All are brass sleeves, with threaded plastic seacocks attached about 4" inside the hull. The galley sink seacock seized up, so it needs attention. I thought of glazing over one in the galley and/or replace all with brass seacocks. I have no strong preference except I want to keep cost low. The yard estimated 2 hours of work for glass over job. Thoughts? Best, Mike Casillo Invincible Summer Cal 2-25 Annapolis