Pine for keel??

[Guest Dapip]

I know white pine is far too soft for the keel. I cannot find a lumberyard with Southern yellow...are there any other types of pine suitable for the Keel?? Thanks in advance!!!!

Dave Pippa

[capt jake]

I don't know if you have a Lumber Liquidators outlet near you or not. I was in one of their showrooms looking at flooring, they had Southern Yellow T&G for a fairly reasonable price.

http://www.lumberliquidators.com

[Mike Donlin]

Dave, I don't know where you are located but we have a local yard in our town of 1200 people in the center of SD that has lots of 1x12 SYP in 16' lengths. I asked the manager where he got it and he said they just order it through the regular lumber suppliers. The supplier talked like it was a stock item for them.

We built two boats out of this little yard a couple of years ago and they had everything we needed including the glue (except the fiberglass)

Check with the local yards and stay away from the big box stores. Tell the manager what you are building, and they will probably be able to help you out.

[Guest Dapip]

I appreciate your help. I am sure it will work itself out.

[Guest Anonymous]

Dave,

Welcome to the group! Where are you located? Someone in your area will be able to give you some specifics as to availability.

There are several alternatives that are affordable woods. Douglas Fir is the most common because it is so plentiful and shipped all over the states. Southern Yellow pine, Mahogany, Meranti, White oak, Ash Larch, Elm. I would recommend that you avoid Poplar and white pine, both are to soft and are not suitable for boat building. There is another wood in the pine family that is called Canary, it comes from the Canary Islands. It is suitable and quite attractive, but it may be pricy in your area. Doug Fir is generally available at a good full service lumber yard catering to contractors and builders. If they don't have 1X12 they will always have good 2X12 stock as it is used for stair risers. Many of them also offer a resawing service that would cut them down to 1X12 stock.

You could also have 2X12 planed down to 1X12. Tool rental houses rent 12" planers by the day.

Several builderes have joined up smaller pieces of stock to make up 1X12 material by edge glueing and staggering the joints so they don't align with one another.

I would try to pick wood that is close to quartersawn or vertical grain if possible and with the smallest possible knots if it has knots. Large knots tend to break out and cause problems. The problem with plain sawn wood is that it cups and warps quite easily and potentially it can cause problems with laminations such as the keel/stem.

You may or may not find what you need at one of the larger "box" stores, Lowes, Home Depot, etc. Most of them cater to the home remodeler rather than the contractor/builder. So they don't have as broad a selection or as varied grades of wood. Most of the full service lumber yards will get what you need if they don't have it in stock.

Keep on posting, let us know what is happening; There is a wealth of good advice with this group.

[Guest Dapip]

I live in CT. I am very into woodworking and always use good local mills and lumberyards. I am having just as hard a time getting Douglas fir in 1x stock. I have a planer and can do it myself but i was worried about 2x stock being too green for use in that application. I actually have a great source for 12 inch wide soft and hard maple stock. I may just use that. I get a pretty good deal as I buy a lot of it for furniture making. We'll see what pans out. and again...thanks for all the replies. I am just itching to start building!!

[tdrown]

I used #2 White Pine for my keel and I am Allentown. This is one thing I regret though, it will probably be much too soft. This is probably the one place where you wouldn't want to skimp on cost. The keel actually did end up warping very slightly on me, a few of my screws were missing the keel when I attached the bottom. It turned out to be only a one inch bend, but still important to performance. Only the bowspirit and the plywood are fir on my boat, I know it is probably a little harder to find here in the east, the fir and ply all said Washington on it. Good luck!

[T. Nelson Surbrook]

Let me share my best lumber yard tip with you. When you are selecting lumber for the boat tell the yard-man what you are buildiing and show him some pictures of the project. After the lumber is loaded, tip the yardman a few dollars. The next time you are there to get lumber, the yardman will show you where the best lumber is and help you get it. The boys in the yard don't get tipped very often and when you do it they will be extra accomadating for you. It only takes a couple of dollars each time you go to the yard and it will be more than worth it in the quality of lumber you will get.

[Frank Hagan]

I live in CT. I am very into woodworking and always use good local mills and lumberyards. I am having just as hard a time getting Douglas fir in 1x stock. I have a planer and can do it myself but i was worried about 2x stock being too green for use in that application. I actually have a great source for 12 inch wide soft and hard maple stock. I may just use that. I get a pretty good deal as I buy a lot of it for furniture making. We'll see what pans out. and again...thanks for all the replies. I am just itching to start building!!

You can use green wood for the keel, if you cut it and glue it up before any cupping or warping takes place. You're making a three-ply lamination, and flipping the boards so the grain on one layer goes ))))) and on the other (((((( will help counteract the tendency to warp and twist. Just remember to lay it flat, weight it down, and let it cure. I used green douglas fir 2 x 12's resawn into 1 x 12's. In your neck of the woods (he he) you have some great boatbuilding woods you might be able to use ... white oak, locust, hard pine (or red pine), etc. Green white oak might be available near you pretty cheaply ... I've heard of people getting it for $1 a board foot - wow!

Maple is not used much in boat building due to susceptibility to rot. That might not be a problem if your boat lives most of the time on the trailer, like most of ours do. I would opt NOT to glass the keel with maple though; I still believe glassing the keel is an invitation to rot damage (a lone voice crying in the wilderness, I'm afraid, but there it is!)