Repairs to gunale & blunt end bow, small crack !?

Hi, my dad was a professional boat builder, he built me a blunt end dinghy (excuse me if not using right term) for rowing and it was adapted for sail too. Dad is now deceased and I have inherited the boat. I love this as it reminds me of everything good in the world.... I don't want to make a mistake but cannot afford a boat builder. I think it is marine ply with Douglas fir gunales but could be Ash, cause the timber is very white. It has two skins of Fiberglass and marine paint. It has rot on right corner of bow and gunale. Silly question possibly, but if we take bow off and re-make following Dad's pattern, is there anything special we have to do, read, learn, etc. Painfully ignorant, Rowing daughter.