: Simon,
: Good on ya! your post read with considerable interest. I'll have to get my
: book of timbers out to translate the latin names to what i know the trees
: as. I recognise Radiata. We've a fair stand of these in the centre of the
: North Island. How did this timber behave? Did you do anything special to
: ensure a quality finish?.

I used clear radiata (from Carters) and found it good to work with. It bent well, sanded well and looks good under the glass. I steamed a couple of strips to get round some tight bends and that went well too. Of course there is a weight trade off when you move away from cedar but the boat finished at 19kg fully rigged and I'm happy with that. I did notice that the macrocarpa and pine seemed to absorb less resin than the cedar so perhaps the trade off wasn't all that much. I may do some tests to confirm this before I start my stretched Great Auk Double as I will have to be more fussy about weight.
Simon