Hi Teasea, I used Paulownia and can't speak highly enough about it. Plantation timber grown in central and north NSW, Australia and Asia, its a delight to work with hand tools similar to Western Red Cedar and has comparable strength and marginally lighter in weight. Also glues well. The photo shows the colour difference between the ply stem, keel, chine, stem,gunwhale and WRC sheer riser. Search paulowniatimber.com.au and you can order sizes to you needs DAR and they will pack and ship. I don't know if they ship to USA but an email will inform our American friends, they were pleasant to deal with and small orders not a problem and cost effective as the timber could be used as delivered.