: ; . . .outside of oak and

: Keep it simple and you can make it look great without too many
: problems. First, see what you local Lowes has in stock. You are
: looking fo rthree wood colors, so go with what is in stock, or
: easily available.

: For your dark red you might continue with cherry. That matches the
: stem, so it would pull the boat's color scheme together. A lot
: of cherry is stained to be as dark as mahogany, so there is
: anothr choice. Walnut would be dark, but not as red. Personally,
: I'd stick to cherry. It tends to darken a lot as it ages, so if
: your stock is a bit light--give it more light and some time.

: Your white wood can be poplar, ash, birch, pine, fir, or maple.
: They are all very light woods and they all work easily. You
: should be able to find a few pieces of all of these species at
: Lowes. My first pick would be ash, because I bought a bunch
: cheap last year on sale. Poplar is frequently on sale. Watch out
: for boards with green or purple tinges. Those tend to go gray as
: they age. Birch is hard to find as boards, and so is basswood
: and boxwood, but if you can get some then use 'em.

: For your yellows, you may find good boards in the same Pine, maple,
: fir and ash aisles. You may also find some red cedar sapwood
: which is orangish. My pick would be pine or maple. The winter
: rings on pine can be quite orange, so depending onhow much grain
: is showing, this can affect the apparent tint.

: You won't need long lengths of your white wood. The darkest wood
: runs full length, so you'll want to scarf a few long strips. A
: simple way to do pinstriping is to glue a white strip to a dark
: one, and install that as one piece. Any trimming has to be done
: to the thicker dark piece so the pinstripe retains its width.

: I suggest you first strip the entire deck in either pine or ash
: (clear pine is about as expensive as clear ash) then cut out the
: sections you want to do in other woods. The pieces you cut out
: can be used as templates for trimming the other woods. It might
: speed up fitting in all those small pieces.

: You have some pieces making apparently severe bends. You may need
: to reduce those to 3/8" wide strips so they bend easier.
: Or, lay all the strips straight in line with the keel, and trim
: the ends to fit.

: Hope this helps.

: PGJ

Doing the deck all in heavy hardwoods will end up with a very heavy boat, pretty, but very heavy. Cherry and ash are nice, not light though.

Bill H.