I'm aware of the perils of over caulking, just want a solution that will allow me to patch up and go till we get her out at the end of the year. Hadn't thought about puttying it, it'll be a damn site easier to rake out when we want to redo it proper I'd imagine, so would a wee bit of cotton pushed in and straight putty above the water line be good enough for a few months?? there's whats left of the oakum in a few places, and what I think is white lead, its certainly not anything polymer based, in there already.