Any thoughts on Atlantic White Cedar (Juniper) gunwales, chines & keel? I have a source at the moment.

Craig

: I've talked to a few people about gunwale woods and both fir and cedar will
: work fine. Cedar gunwales will need to be a bit taller (as opposed to
: thicker) than fir gunwales, since it's relatively flexible. You gain much
: more stiffness by increasing the height of the gunwales than by increasing
: the thikness. Cedar should save you a lot of weight vs. fir. I used fir
: for my keel and chine stringers and found it to be a bit too stiff for the
: chines. It was fine for the keel. I suspect that fir gunwale boards would
: have to be rather short in order to be flexible enough. I used yellow pine
: for mine (I won't do that again) and reduced the height to 2 3/8" to
: compensate for it's stiffness. That would probably be a good idea with
: fir.

: You can reduce the thickness, but personally, I like having 1/4" of
: material on either side of the rib mortises. I guess it's just a security
: thing.

: One thing to consider is the way the wood is cut vis a vis the way you plan
: to make your gunwale boards. Around here, CVG fir is the norm, so making
: gunwale boards from a fir 2x4 (Morris' method) is feasible. Cedar, on the
: other hand, is more available here in a flat sawn configuration, so
: cutting the gunwale boards out of a 1x8 with symmetric grain is easiest
: with cedar.

: If white pine is available in your area, don't dismiss it as a gunwale wood.
: It's in between cedar and fir in weight, stiffness and strength. My next
: SOF boat will have either red cedar or white pine gunwales.