I'm working on the deck of my Guillemot. I'm psyched because I'm finally making steady progress. But . . .

As I was laying some deck strips, I noticed that the accent strips along the keel of my completed hull was splitting right down the center. The hull is white cedar and the accent strip is wrc. I've already faired it to 60 grit w/ a board. The keel is actually 2 thin pieces glued at the center; and the split seems to be at the glue line. I'm guessing that this is from shrinkage of the strips all along the hull. In fact, I have a couple of other strips on the hull that are doing the same thing.

My questions: Is this from shrinkage? If so, will it keep happening? Should I expect to go into my shop one night and find splits and cracks all along my once beautiful hull? Do you think this happened because I didn't use enough glue on those joints? Too much glue?

Finally, what do I do about them? I tried squeezing the hull, but the forms prevent the cracks form closing. Will they close up with a change in humidity? Will I have time later to try to close them up?

thanks for the advice,

Rob