: Hi everyone,

: I'm a first time builder looking for a good project for this year.
: I've settled on building the high capacity Great Auk from
: Guillemot Kayaks for my first, really looking forward to getting
: started. The only issue that I've run into is that I live in
: Perth (Western Australia), and from what I can see so far almost
: everyone on this site is on the other side of the world and I
: was hoping to ask for any experience with Australian timber...

: So far I have identified three possibilities. I am able to get
: Western Red Cedar imported, but only in 3m lengths. Besides
: Pine, the only other wood appropriate is Tasmanian Oak, but it
: is about twice the density of the cedar. I have also been
: informed that the available pine suffers from a black
: mould/fungus which appears in the prescence of water - I have
: seen this on other boats, but I think it probably only happens
: when the boats are in the water full-time. I'd like to have pine
: as an option, as it is much cheaper, comes in any length I want
: and will stain very well. Otherwise I'll have to scarf the cedar
: or try and find some long planks of the tassie oak.

: Graham

Hi Graham,
Pine would do fine. The kayak would be a bit heavier than a cedar one but not much. A good bit lighter than Tas oak. With epoxy and glass, on both out and inside, the pine shouldn't get mold as it's sealed from getting wet. Which is one of the purposes of epoxy. :)

There's a couple of builders from Australia who post here, maybe they'll chip in with suitable and available local timbers.

Mike Savage
South West Cork