I am always amazed at the amount of discussion post like mine can create. The staples vs clamp issue is always a religous discussion.

Update for those that care:

I fiberglased the deck this weekend leaving about 1/3 of the holes filled with toothpicks and the rest steamed closed as best I could. I am more than pleased with the results. The toothpick endgrain does darken more than the surounding wood but not in a distracting way.

In retrospect I probably wouldn't take the time to use the staple-less methods described or if I did it would only be on the deck. I would take more time to make sure the holes were better aligned. My B&D staple gun was not great for predicting the exact location of a staple. Any thought on getting a line of staples right down the center of the form.

Jack

>Has anyone out there taken the time to fill in staple holes. I am about to
> glass my Expdition Single but the staple holes in the deck keep staring me
> in the face. I started to fill the largest of them with tooth picks and
> sanding them flush. You can fill quite a lot of holes quickly this way but
> I think the endgrain may darken more than the surrounding wood. Anyone
> have luck with this process.

> I also read somewhere that you could wet down the holes and iron it to
> make the holes swell closed. This souned like it might work but I didn't
> think it would be good for the glue joints.

> I know that the holes are not too visiable once you are done but I thought
> the tooth pick trick might be a way of getting a better finish on the
> deck. I certainly don't think individually filling each hole with filler
> is worth the time.

> Any ideas?

> Jack