Yachting and Boating World forums: Leaks in Cabin Sides

Ultimately this is going to need fixing properly. No amount of goo stuffed into the gaps will survive the seasonal movement of the timber. You'll have to look at WHY the joints open up, i.e. what is restraining the cabin sides so that the contraction cannot be taken up on the top edge rather than at the joint? If you can solve the structural problem then any repair you do may have some chance of lasting. I'd be thinking about routing out a generous channel (say 2" wide) and half way through the thickness of the material, and letting in a strip of timber with resorcinal/urea formaldehyde adhesive. Then repeating on the inside , but with a narrower strip. The effect being to form a lap-jointed insert with suitably large glue joint areas to resist future applied forces. You'll have to get the boat under cover and well dried out though, otherwise the glue doesn't stand a chance.

In the short term you could screw a batten over the join on the outside. Create a hollow in the back of the batten to fill with a non-setting mastic (maybe Arbokol polysulphide). This would be removable when you come to do the proper repair, but might effectively keep the water out of the joint meantime.
Probably a bigger job than you had hoped for!

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