>

> Yep, I'm planning on steaming the crossmembers, although I've
> never done it before.

Check this list for some strings on steam bending wood. Personally I've avoided it for two reasons: I've not had access to wood which could steam well, and I`ve not desired to spend the money for a steamer. For the few pieces that I've had to bend I found it simple to make them from laminations of thin, easily bent strips. The tighter the bend has to be, the thinner I make the strips.

> You say cedar (western red cedar?) is good but
> others have told me it's hard to work.

Ever sharpen a pencil? Most people have. Well, most pencils are made of cedar. Working with cedar strips is very easy with almost any sharp tool. About the only thing to worry about with cedar is splinters. They get infected easily. Same problem with redwood, which is another good wood to use. Cedar is available, light, and reasonably cheap. It comes from fastgrowing, easily replenishible trees. You could use pine or spruce, too, if you are not going to steam bend things.

> To be honest, my concerns
> about wood mostly concern decay. As I don't want to be using old
> growth, I think finding decay resistant wood is going to be a problem.

Decay? What decay? Encapsulating the wood in epoxy is going to keep almost any kind of wood from decaying for decades. Let your children, or their children, worry about fixing decayed areas when THEY refinish your handmade, family heirloom, boat.

How do you encapsulate the wood so that it is practically decay proof? Simple. Paint on two thin layers of epoxy resin on all surfaces. Polyester resin doesn't do it. If you are using fiberglass, you'll be doing this anyway.

Should a puncture penetrate into the wood beyond the area where the resin has soaked in, just let the boat dry out well before patching that area with epoxy resin. If, after 10 or 20 years you should get an area of rot, you will be quite knowledgeable about how to fix it. Cut out the bad spot, glue in strips ( just like you did to build the boat) and cover with fiberglass and resin. Sand and varnish. Voila. A new spot on an old boat.

It is really easier to fix these things later than to worry about them now.

Lumber cut from old growth forests is readily available, but the price is higher. Let your wallet lead your conscience. If the wood is cheap then there is no way it comes from an endangered forest or species. (The opposite is not quite true. Not all expensive woods are endangered. Some are just hard to come by.)

You have a lot of options here. Pick one and get started. The differences between them are slight, so I'd go with the one that was cheapest or used the most easily available materials. Best of luck.