Using duct tape is possible and often recomended but there are some caveats.
Industrial quality tape that is used to tape duct work is a lot better than the stuff we buy at the discount store.
The advisabilty of using tape depends on the application. I built an 8' pram from ¼" ply. Some of the planks required short hard bends and twists that tape could never control. I had to use wire and some of it broke because of the stresses generated by the plank. Wire will work in almost all situations.
I call the final wiring the "money stage". Whatever the conformation when the glue goes on is the conformation forever. With wire you can adjust for side to side conformity and squareness to you get everything spot on before you glue. With wire you can make subtle changes with no danger of other connections popping loose or shifting. I usually go over the wiring three days in a row to make certain I've got it as good as is possible.
So far I have only built three S&G boats but they all go straight and don't exhibit any handling problems.
If you are new at this the last thing you want to do is try to get around what the designer proposes.
Concentrate on getting the boat straight. If you don't it will want to go in a circle.
Then try to make it as watertight as possible.
After that you can dig into making it pretty, comfortable, etc., etc.

: Has anyone used duct tape rather than wire to hold panels together for
: filleting? I am working on a CLC kit and wondering if it is worth it to
: avoid the holes. It is an Arctic Hawk. First build and it's going rather
: slow since I don't have much of an idea what I am doing. The manual is 400
: pages but it is still my first effort.

: The design calls for a strip of wood to be added to the bottom of the cockpit
: area, lots of thickened epoxy, seems almost like and end pour on the
: bottom. Would it be just as strong or stronger if it were glassed on both
: sides, forming a triangular brace. Just wondering