: This is not the first time I have asked this question, but I want to revisit
: it- I would like to know if anyone has built a SOF using mahogany for the
: gunwales and keelson. I have access to smaller lengths of fir and pine for
: the ribs and shorter pieces. It's the long ones that are killing me to
: find in good lumber. Where I live mahogany is readily available in very
: clear grain, and long lengths. Besides, imagine how beautiful she would
: look with Mahogany gunwales, even if you don't see much of them!

: My research on the web shows that it is about 33% heavier than spruce and
: about 15% heavier than fir. If I use mahogany for the gunwales and
: keelson, and fir for the rest of the boat, is it really going to add that
: much more weight? The cost of (a) purchasing good clear spruce and (b)
: shipping the good clear spruce to me is just too much. If mahogany is only
: going to add 3 or 4 pounds then what the heck. I can lose 3 or 4 pounds of
: body fat to make up the difference!!!

: I also would like to ask if anyone with some experience in building a SOF in
: traditional methods would like to comment on the idea of shaving 1/8"
: off the gunwales, keelson, and maybe stringers if they were made from
: mahogany. My thought is the mahogany is much stronger, and much less
: likely to crack around the mortices, so I could go a tiny bit thinner with
: the gunwales to make up for the difference in weight. The mahogany I have
: access to is very dense, very tight-grained, and would be quarter-sawn.

It certainly would work and the sizes can be reduced some to compensate. I'd leave the thickness the same because of the mortices but the height of the gunwales could certainly be reduced. Other nice thing is most mahoganies are very nice to work with (well other than African, but it's so heavy that you'd not likely use it anyway).

Btw, with all woods, just because the books call for one species doesn't mean that's the only thing that can work for that application, wood choice depends on what's available locally. Will obviously change depening on where you live.

My first kayak had a white oak frame, individual pieces were tiny compared to the average softwood ones normally used and it wasn't built exactly the same way, still worked fine.

Bill H.