Even though I had a solid wood block in the bow and stern I also followed the drill a hole, slather hole and pipe with epoxy, slide pipe into hole, sand flush, countersink bevel on pipe procedure.

It gives a nice finished look and seemed to definatively end any worries of wear or water getting into the endgrain.

I used white PVC schedule 40 pipe instead of copper since the other fitting on my kayak were white - as far as I can tell it hasn't had any problems.