it's very hard if not impossible to make staple holes disappear.

so my first comment might be to simply re-think your perspective.  they can be considered an interesting detail that adds charm and interest to your boat.

other ideas....which all involve some type of blending/covering....

- stain the hull dark to come much closer to the tone/color of the staple holes.  i posted a picture of a night heron i just finished today,  it was stained nutmeg.....very hard to pick out the staple holes.

- create a putty that you can use to blend the holes to the colour of the underlying wood.  i find experimenting with inexpensive wood puttys with some white and some colored version....you can mix up something that can be 'puttied' into your staple holes that makes them almost disappear.

- paint the hull.

anyway, not trying to be glib.....but wetting steaming and tryng to get the staple hole to close....is not an approach i have seen work very well.  you may also want to try the Guillemot site which focuses on strip-building....folks there may offer up some additional ideas.

best

howard

   Howard,

Great help.  I went to the Guillemot site and between that and your comments, I have more confidence that my idea to fill will an epoxy thickened and colored is viable.  I played a bit with that over the weekend and it showed promise.  May be a bit tedious, but will work.

My glass is so thin that alll sins on the wood will show.  Wanted to remove this one problem.

Thanks again.

John

Since you are glassing the hull, you could also consider a dab of Tightbond glue and some 120 grit sandpaper - put the glue on the hole and then sand over it until the sawdust/glue mixture fills the hole - the color will be very close to the surrounding wood.

I do this when I am building furniture and properly done, is very hard to detect.  If you have a boatload of staple holes, it may become tedious, but it will get the job done.

Gero 

   Incorpoate the attachment to the design. I have seen others use copper or brass headed nails to attach the strips or fill the staple holes.

If you used a vacum when sanding you could have a good source of matching saw dust for filling holes when mixed with epoxy or glue.