As I am slowly getting back into modeling after a long absence I have spent hours lurking S. O. S reading build logs. Repeatedly the issue of fastenings comes up usually with documentation supporting the authors point of view and often supporting one sort of fastener over another. (Forgive me up front for the simplification of dozens of posts.) So I guess it is time to throw my 2 cents into the pot!
Incidentally, I joined the NRG when I started out modeling and attended a presentation by Hahn at Mystic Seaport. His work seemed amazing to me and also personally unobtainable. Judging by what I see on the forum such workmanship has become, if not commonplace, at least not unusual.
But back to fasteners. I am not a naval historian but I lived aboard sailboats for 35 years, worked in and for various boatyards that worked or built wooden boats and learned a bit about fastenings in the marine environment.
"Modern" wooden boats and yachts (1900 to present) were /are fastened with bronze, galvanized steel, or copper. Stainless fasteners not suitable for in use damp or immersed situations ie hulls. Bronze is durable (~20 yr) as is copper riviting but both are expensive. Galvanized fasteners are inexpensive but may only last 10-15 years. For a fishing boat with a working life of 10 years galvanized made sense. For a yacht with a projected life of 20+ years the cost of bronze makes sense.
Both bronze and galvanized need to be protected by a wooden bung (plug) to prevent degradation. If a galvanized fastener were not protected a hull would be streaked with rust within a year or two. It is possible forged iron might do better but that is out of my experience.
My point is that use and economics often dictate the choice of fastener.
Few to my knowledge are building new vessels with treenails but they have several advantages. Driven correctly they swell when wet and make a very strong durable fastening. When repairing such a vessel and boring for new fastenings there is also no worry about running into some unanticipated piece of drift or iron fastening. Unfortunately proper woods are becoming expensive and production of the treenails is labor intensive.
As an aside the Bluenose II is, I believe, galvanized fastened. According to an expert acquaintence, for what they spent on rudder design and repair they could have fastened her with locust treenails and have greatly extended her life.
As anecdotal fastener information I can offer the following. I have poked around a lot of "wrecks" (usually just planked sections of hull). Most were from coastal vessels from the late 1800's to early 1900's. Some around Ocracoke Island, NC, USA and also Maine, USA, and Nova Scotia, CA. On these scraps treenails were common as were many Iron drifts and bolts. There were undoubtedly spikes too but my memory fails me there. My take away is that various fastening types were used depending on where the fasteners were located in the vessel and that determined the properties required of the fastener. Deadwood gets drifted together, hatch comings don't require that.
To me a model is a means to appreciate the lines of a vessel. How fine is the entry? How would the water depart her stern? How has her use dictated her shape? How much is she a product of tradition or technology? The rest is usually just determined by my eye-hand coordination
Fair winds, and if any of this comes across as a rant, I apologize. That is not my intent!
Ed