corking? caulking? help

cotton, oakum, etc.

Smaller boats and yachts are calked with the finer cotton. Oakum is used on larger boats, ships to fill the larger seams. I think the cedar sliver is the quickest, best way to approacht this problem. Leave the goops out of it. If you decide you have to use the cotton, it is available or used to be from Jamestown distributors. In boat building it is pounded into the seam with a special mallet and iron. The iron is shaped like a super thick putty knife with a round edge. The trick is to unroll a strand of the cotton, tap the strand into the seam every few inches just to start it. Then tap it in all along the seam. The trick is to know when the seam is "full". Make sure you don't tap it all the way through and don't damage the edges of the plank. Just go with the cedar sliver.