> In most of the material I have read, including Nick's book, the timbers
> recommended are Western Red Cedar, and other species from Northern
> America. These are all prohibitively expensive here in Australia. At least
> on my budget. Enough Western Red is A$650.00, just over a weeks pay. Most
> of the timbers we have commonly available here are very heavy(most of our
> hardwoods won't float), but heaps strong. Most of our softwoods are harder
> and heavier than the hardwoods I've worked with from Nth America. In order
> to save weight, how thin can you go with the strips? If the timber has
> enough strength, could I safely go down to 4mm (5/32")? I realise
> that the timber is there to space the inner & outer layers of glass
> apart to gain strength, how strong does the timber have to be? There is a
> species available as an experimental crop called Paulownia. It is
> extremely light, about .28 specific gravity, but very soft, something like
> balsa.
>I have built two of the kayaks from Nicks book out of Australian timbers namely Australian red cedar Toona Australis and Hoop pine with good results .In fact the red cedar is better than western red as it has very good flex in bending ,Paulownia is crap! snaps like a carrot

Phill