The reason I am asking is that I am building a surf kayak right now. The building method is called ("Box Construction"??). Last night I glued, bent and fired many brad nails through the sidepieces. While doing this I had two sections break completely out near the bow (on a side piece) where there is a lot of rocker. I also saw a few places where I have 2 -> 3 inch splits in the sidepieces. I was basically wondering if I would have seen this type of failures with oakum.

I know that using stitch and glue you don't get the sudden whack to the wood that the nail gun gives in this method.

On a sideline, WOW!! I have a new kayak! One minute and I had three panels and I could visualize what they would look like together, fretting that there will not be any foot room in this boat and knowing that I will have to build another with a higher deck. And the next you have a lovely hull with complex shapes that I had not seen in my mind, and plenty on foot space.

Sage