Oh, I know how they were attached, since I built it three years ago. They were glued with mediocre five minute epoxy (not great, but not the cheap stuff). I did this before learning the wonders of thickening and strengthening agents. After glueing I pegged through with a wooden dowel. I THINk it was maple. The dowel was glued in place with either urethane of titebond iii. I can't remember which.

The cedar gunwale tips were totally saturated with water collecting over three winters, and it looked like the fibers separated from the epoxy. The epoxy was still firmly bonded to the plywood stem. The same thing seemed to happen with the pegs. The gunwales were just sliding over them, but the pegs were still firmly attached to the ply.

After the whole thing dried over 24 hours they tightened right back up on the pegs. I actually had to cut them just to get the joint open again, since I couldn't move them enough.

My see bea showed the same damage from water collection, but I knew what I was doing by then. None of the glue bonds released, plus I just used brass screws that time, and not pegs.

On the new kidarka's I actually didn't even glue the joints. I screwed with type 316 stainless, then lashed, and saturated the lashing with epoxy. I do t think that's ever coming apart.

John