You asked the wrong question, Sage. You should have asked, "is luan as strong as British Standard marine plywood"? The answer is no. Most luan has wallpaper-thin outer verneers that contribut very little to the strength of the panel. And using 1/4 in. luan for anything requiring a hard bend is going to test the builder's patience and may not work in the end.
The reason for the constant jabber about equal thickness verneers is that the strongest panels always have something close to this.
You could probably build this hull lighter and stronger (and safer) with some BS ply.
Charlie

: 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