[tartuffe]

Yes only score the first layer, once it is fully adhered to the outer skin it will be strong enough to torque that next layer in place. Even with all that torque it still will not fit absolutely snug against your first layer, that is where all that thickened resin you troweled on comes in handy.

I used that blue styrofoam board to cut my templates, it works really well.

There is a trade off regarding how snug you want the wood to come to your gunnels in the corners of your transom. I left enough room that I could easily get the thickened resin all the way into the corners. I left about an inch. It was very easy to make sure I had zero gaps in my corners but it did eat up ALOT of thickened resin.

Regarding brackets, I have no experience so I can't comment there. Brackets are sexy as hell but I opted not to put one on when I did my restore. It just didn't match my needs for the boat.