Jerry, here is a picture for you. I Googled clear vertical grain fir to get this for you, there are plenty more out there. Good luck on your project.
Here is an excerpt from a page discussing the qualities of Douglas Fir. "When dry, Douglas fir retains its shape and size without shrinking, swelling, cupping, warping, bowing or twisting, and generally won’t check or show a raised grain. "
Rick: I am in the process of building a Maine Peapod- with laminated stems- fore and aft. One of the local sawmills also supplies wood to the "Bath Iron Works". They now build missle friagtes etc. To make a long story short he also " imports" woods for their needs. He looks it over verycarefully and selects out some really good stuff for the locals. I have glued up the stems-8-10 laminations each with CVG DF that has atleast 20 rings to the inch. These old eyes had a hard time counting them. It might pay people to call on a local sawmill- they might surprise you as to what might be available.
I sent her a check too- but the wife found out about it and stopped payment .
I would love to see pictures of your new build and your fleet of boats! I am fortunate in a couple of ways. First of all there is still a lot of Douglas Fir in the Northwest, however it certainly isn't the quality it used to be. Secondly there is a chain lumber store called "Windsor Plywood", with two branches locally. They have a nice selection of wood of all kinds. The CVG I have examined looks pretty good. I also noticed a local small supplier in the Spokane Craigslist that had some nice CVG fir. At the present time I don't have the money for wood, but I keep both a mental list and computer bookmarks on the available woods.
I recently picked up quite a few board feet of some nice Australian eucalyptus for free. It was used as crate materials for granite. At least I think that is the source, it is very solid and dense. It might make an interesting stem, especially if I laminate it. The lumber is mostly 3" x 4" and 6' long. It might even be good for oarlocks.
Sorry to hear that Linda won't be getting any of your money.