Hi, Lee-

As far as air drying the 1" boards, they really will not dry out much if your ambient air temp is much below 60F. If you can keep them warmer than that, with good air circulation (place sticks every 2' or so between the boards), then 6 months is a ballpark figure for air drying.

Personally, I wouldn't want to mill the green stuff into strips. I think the headaches might be more of a pain than the potential savings. Two potential problems, as I see:

1. The strips will go wild as they dry. This problem you can work around.

2. The strips will continue drying after you get them on the form, and the resultant shrinkage will either split the boat on the form, or create stresses with the glass later, or make re-joining a pain in the butt.

If your budget can handle it, you might think about saving this stock for the 2004-5 building season, and get some dry stuff for this winter. I think it's a great idea to buy the green stuff for future use. Definitly a good way to save money, just takes some extra time and effort.

On the other hand, I could be excessively cautious- maybe there are others with experience with green wood who have better ideas.

In any case, have fun building the King! Let us know how it goes. Mike