jarcher - thanks for sharing your experiences. I'm planning on trying similar repairs for the first time this season and it's pretty intimidating
I guess what you've discovered is what all the stories mean when they say "it's messy".
Btw, on the suggestion of walking down the dock to find a color match: you're almost guaranteed to pick a bad match, since the lighting conditions will surely be different (based on angle, shadows, glossiness, other stuff in your visual field, etc.). The eye is notoriously susceptible to color trickery.