Agreed. I am about the same. Have done enough fiberglass repairs to be dangerous. And yes, forget about the gelcoat. It does nothing. There are various ways to fix that and all of them would probably work. You might not want to do it this way but this is how I would do it.
Take yourself a piece of sheet metal or aluminum a little bigger than the area you are repairing, say by about 4 or 5 inches. Shape it to the right contour of the fender edge. Flip your hood upside down and grind the fiberglass at the hood corner thin enough that it's pliable but not completely through. Flip the hood over, pop rivet your sheet metal to the hood so the corner takes on the correct contour. You want the overlapping amount of sheet metal to hold it in the right shape. Flip the hood back over and glass the corner, overlapping each layer slightly. You can use polyester resin or epoxy. In this case it doesn't matter. Layer it to your satisfaction. Let it cure well.
Once it's cured, flip the hood over, grind off the pop rivets, remove the sheet metal, sand the upper surface or grind it lightly, fill the imperfections and prime. Finish the underside the same way.
As I said, there are other ways, but that will work if it's done right. Just my 2 cents worth.