I used basswood in my last three boats. Its white with a few dark streeks. It's soft and easy to work. It bends very easily (I put it through some very extreme bends on the last two boats). I have encountered some problems... well one big one. And that is I have hit a few rocks very hard and the wood fibers seperated causing a soft spot. When I went to repair the spot I noticed that the epoxy had penetrated the surface well, but the wood fibers had compressed. In the picture below the white wood is the basswood and the dark is spanish cedar. Over all I like the wood, and as long as you don't abuse it in rivers like I do it should work well.

Hafte

: many months ago there was a thread on the weight and other aspects of
: basswood. According to the latest CanoeCraft book basswood was once used
: in canoe building. Since I have access to a stand of basswood trees I'm
: curious if anyone has used basswood in a strip kayak and what does it look
: like? addison