Maple in boatbuilding

[John Stevens]

I have a chance to buy some maple at a good price. Can I use that for the frames of my Minuet instead of douglas fir?

TIA,

John

[Charlie Jones]

I wouldn't John. The fir will be much lighter and significantly easier to work than the maple.

[Frank Hagan]

Like Charlie said, I would stick with Douglas Fir or Southern Yellow Pine for framing. Maple is actually worse from a rot standpoint in wet locations.

[Craig]

To hell with the SYP, use the fir if you can get it. easier to work and doesn't tend to warp.

[PAR]

Maple has it uses on boats, but frames wouldn't be a good one. The interlocking grain and dense structure makes it great for smaller pieces, that need to be particularly tough, like cleats, pin rails, pins, block cheeks, knees, gaff jaws, etc. Most of these pieces will get limited exposure to a good soaking and will be handy to wipe clean after a sail, so rotting will be less an issue. Frames are out of sight and mind after the boat is launched and rot can have it's way, long before you know it's gotten a foot hold. Some of the prettiest mooring bits and cleats I've seen were maple and it's damn tough stuff too.

[Greg Luckett]

John,

Hard maples have some good marine use, but I do not think the softer maples would be very good due to poor rot resistance. What kind of maple is it you can get?

Greg.