In reply to "Gunwale material", posted by Danny on Feb 6, 2001:
I'd like to hear from others on this. Yes, I have said
negative things about mahogony. When I was building boats
commercially, too many years back to admit, I bought
a bunk of long (central american) mahogony boards, for making
gunwales. Those boards that worked made good gunwales:
handsome, strong (I guess), weather resistant, etc.
But I
oke a lot of boards in the bending process.
I've had much better luck with fir, red and/or white oak
and ash. Ash and white oak are the best, I think. Fir makes good
lightweight-but-strong gunwales.
Gunwales don't have to be full-length. You can scarf them up from
shorter lengths. Put the scarf to the rear of the oarlocks....where
the gunwale has the least amount of bend.