: I'm building a non-traditional, Yost-style SOF loosely modeled on Tom Yost's
: multi-chine Sea Rider. I cut the gunwales, chines, and keel and deck
: stringers from a 13-foot board of Honduran Mahogany. Because the kayak is
: around 18 feet long, the mahogany I had access to was not really the
: answer to your problem of too-short spruce/fir/cedar, but I thought it
: would be strong, easy to work with, and nice to look at. Rather than scarf
: or reinforce butt joints, I ripped each piece to 3/8" (x 1 1/2",
: 1", or 3/4", depending on the type of stringer). Using the
: example of the gunwales, I cut simple 45-degree scarfs so that I would
: have four 3/8" x 1 1/2" strips, two approximately 12 feet long
: and two approximately 6 feet long. Then I laminated the four pieces so
: that I had an 18-foot, 3/4" x 1 1/2" strip. I laminated them in
: place on the cross-section forms (temporarily), so the laminated piece had
: the curved shapes built in.

: This has proved to be a LOT of extra work, epoxying, clamping, then planing
: and scraping to remove glue and even up the edges of the laminated strips,
: but I'm pretty pleased with how it's turning out. I haven't got any idea
: yet how heavy it is or how much heavier it is than if I had used Western
: Red Cedar or the like, which I couldn't readily find in long, clear boards
: around here. I think it's probably over-built and unnecessarily heavy,
: especially since there are six chines instead of two, but we'll see. If I
: were going to do it again, I think I would glue up strips that were
: 5/16" or even 9/32" so that the resulting laminations would be
: 5/8" or 9/16" thick instead of 3/4", because the mahogany
: and the lamination make the pieces pretty sturdy.

: Every time I do a sneak-preview by rubbing a little mineral spirits on the
: mahogany, I get pretty excited about how the wood will look from the
: inside of the boat (and from the outside during the time when I use a
: clear vinyl skin before I get around to sewing a fabric skin on).

: Any suggestions on finishing the wood to bring out its color and feature?
: Teak oil, tung oil, varnish, polyurethane, some combination?

: Thanks, Tom, by the way, for your designs and inspiration. Originally, this
: project was supposed to be a dry run to see how I liked the changes made
: to your design before building a folding version, but I got carried away.
: I can't wait to get this one in the water to see how it performs and then
: get started on a folding version (and two smaller folding Sea Pup designs
: for my kids).

Honduras mahogany is fairly rot resistant so I'd personally use tung oil on them for treatment, should make it pretty

Bill H.