Hi,

I am pondering a couple of future builds, as one does when still building the current kayak, and was wondering about peoples' thoughts on the importance of 'traditional' woods.

Whilst I appreciate the strengths, weight and rot-resistance characteristics of certain woods - i.e. the cedars, mahogany, etc - how importatn is wood type if it's going to be fiberglass and epoxy encapsulated?

The reason I ask is that one of the next builds will be a flyfishing kayak, and I wanted to fit it out 'nicely' with some ameneties, storage, etc to make a functional and 'classic' craft for myself. For example, I thought of veneer decks and highlighted fittings (say a fly-box holder). These may be from non-traditional boat-building woods for contract to the main hull.

So, if a wood is epoxy-saturated, does it matter what it is? Like a veneer of birds-eye maple epoxied to a ply deck. If done properly does it matter if it isn't a 'normal' boatbuilding wood?

Interested in your thoughts.

Thanks,
Darren