: I've a fellow in Sydney who was quoted $1000 to buy wood for a stripper.

: There must be a source for cedar is Sydney that's less expensive than that.

: Anyone have a source for boat building wood in Sydney?

: Rob

There is a mailing list for New Zealand builders which has many Australians on it as well. I believe there were several comments on materials suppliers.

It is a Yahoo forum:
http://au.groups.yahoo.com/group/NZkayakbuilders/

I couldn't find my link to it for a while, and in searching I did find a few other possible resources:

The index to Australian Amateur Boatbuilder (http://home.austarnet.com.au/edrew1/aabb/aabbindex.htm search for "wood") shows an article in issue 6 titled "#6 6 SOURCING YOUR PLYWOOD AND TIMBER - HOW TO MANAGE ON A SUPER TIGHT BUDGET TIM FATCHEN"

I got there thru "The mother of all Nautical Links" a resource in itself.
http://www.boat-links.com/linklists/boatlink-01.html (Which also led me to
Ross Leidy's page on Boatbuilder's Anonymous.)

Another hit from that list was
Marine Timbers http://www.marinetimbers.com.au/

Grant Glazer has a list of New Zealand suppliers, and on it he mentions suitable replacements for expensive imported cedar.

http://home.clear.net.nz/pages/grantglazer/Kayak/Materials.htm

"Not only can we easily get imported wood, we also have a great variety of timber indigenous to New Zealand. With Strip Building Cedar is the imported wood of choice because of its light weight and good working qualities. But can be replaced by Paulownia, Kahikatea or other woods with similar specifications. Even the humble Pinus Radiata has its place. Ash and the various Oaks are commonly used for creating ribs in Skin on Frame designs because they steam bend well. Instead consider using Mangeao or heart Rimu which bends just as easily. . . Wood types and properties are so numerous and varied, I have created an extra page to list the most common ones:"

That then links to his wood species list:
http://home.clear.net.nz/pages/grantglazer/Kayak/MaterialsWood.htm

These species should be as easily available in Australia as in New Zealand.

Looking around for Sydney lumber dealers I found out how awful cedar prices can be. The Lumber Bunker (www.lumberbunker.com.au) sells 4 m long (roughly 13 feet) 6mm (nominal 1/4 inch thick) strips for AUS$4 each. That's about US$3.50. Probably need about a hundred of those. Certainly not as cheap as ripping them yourself, but still less than half the original quote. Judging from the website, this seems to be a woodworking-tools store which sells wood as a side line.

There were two other lumberyards in the Sydney area which I could find, but they don't have web sites. Your contact might want to go over the list of locally available alternate species and call them to chick prices:

Simmonds Lumber
10B Grand Ave, Camellia +61 2 9638 4111

Panania Lumber Co
204 Prices Cct, Woronora +61 2 9542 6766

Hope this helps.

PGJ