rampman, this will inevitably become a practical question
to answer the 1st part: "[Boeing and Airbus] assert that composite fuselages are in any case tougher than those of metal and will be more resistant to damage. "
(however..."despite positive spin from the airframers, the industry is to an extent feeling its way on this issue and experts agree that not all the answers are yet in place")
The 1-hour-fix which was mentioned is a band aid that can be used until the next heavy maintenance. A pre-cured composite patch is epoxy bonded to the outside of the damaged area and a chemical heat pack is applied to cure the resin – which will cure at relatively low temperature. It can be applied at the gate if necessary. It is primarily intended for light damage and not for more serious cases where load path integrity is at stake.
Gliders have been fixed with bonded composite repair for 40 years now. One issue with composite repairs may be that some materials need to be stored in a temperature controlled environment, and have a limited shelf life, after which they need to be discarded. Some airlines with smaller fleets may elect not to stock them.
As an alternative to bonded composite repair, bolted/hi-lok titanium patches can be used, just like for conventional tin can airframes
On this topic, the airframe engineering manager at LH Technik, Christian Sauer, was quoted saying: "While accepting that bolt-on repairs may be familiar and quick, we would prefer bonded repairs if the regulatory hurdles could be overcome. It’s certainly a shame to have to make holes [for bolts] in nice continuous fibre lay-ups. But bonded repairs are not yet accepted [for commercial airliners] by the airworthiness authorities except, essentially, as a cosmetic fix."
All quoted from this article here
Meeting the challenge of composite fuselage repair - Reinforced Plastics