a redish color to macth my cedar kayak and fill in the
> staple holes. (it seems like that will be easyer then make a filler) can
> any help?

Klingspor sanding catalog (they have a website, I think) sells small containers of colored putty, mostly for hardwoods, but some like mahogony are pretty dark.

They also have some excellent molding srapers (very sharp) which worked wonders on smoothing the inside of the kayak !!