Thought I would do a little experiment. I used thousands of staples.
Wile staples were only 22 gauge there were lots of holes and minor bruising, where the flat of the staple hit the board, despite the use of nylon strips.
I set a wet towel on the boat for a hour. Moisture content went to 35+%
Appearance of holes was reduced significantly. flat spots swelled.
I let it set overnight then sanded. moisture went down to 7.5% everything looks good. so I placed wet towels on rest of boat. It is not a big difference but it does help reduce appearance of holes.
The real test will be first coat of epoxy. maybe thursday?

Is that towel from Kalahari Waterpark? I have like ten of those in my shop!