Hi Hank, Basswood saws, sands, carves, planes, and files really nicely. I see no reason why it wouldn't make great strips.

That said, you'd have to compare it to spruce, cedar and redwood to compare how dense it is (whether the boat would be lighter/heavier for the same strip thickness).

> I'd like to see some spec's to compare it to the more typically used woods
> if somebody has them.

I found a chart on the internet showing the density of basswood, but it doesn't show cedar or redwood--Nick's book does, though (sorry I don't have it on hand to quote the figures). It is less dense than spruce.

The only place I could find it was in a table showing burning values. If it doesn't make a great boat, at least you could look up how much heat you could recover from burning the boat! :P