Hi Malcolm,

This Steve Rasmussen post from February may give you some ideas for thinning the wood to get equivalent weights even though you aren't looking at a strip build this time.

http://www.kayakforum.com/cgi-bin/Building/index.cgi/read/177040

Best,

Reg

: 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.