In the future I plan to build a wooden drift boat from scratch. I've already built a kit boat and want to go a step further. Is there any good wood suppliers in the Idaho Falls area? I would be looking for white oak for handrails and chines, CV fir for frames and Meranti hydrotek 1088 for the hull. Any help on this would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Randy

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Randy,

Here is the link to my project.

http://www.woodenboatpeople.com/forum/topics/guy-s-wooden-drift-boa...

When I started I looked for good sources of supplies in the Idaho Falls area, but soon gave up.  With the exception of the hardware that I purchased from Hyde Drift Boats (good people and very helpful) I purchased all of my supplies from on-line retailers.  This includes all of the wood: white oak, Port Orford cedar, and Meranti Hydrotek plywood.

Send me a message if you have any questions.

Guy

Guy, where did u order your port orford cedar from? Sounds like got it off the web somewhere? I'm in Jackson and am looking for a couple boards to frame out gutters in my dory. Did u have to ship to a lumber yard and buy large quantitys? Have any leftovers u would be interested in selling? I'm starting this gutter project soon and need to track down some wood. May have to just use cvg fir or for marine ply scraps as that's all I can find locally.

Chris,

This is where I bought the cedar...

http://www.bearcreeklumber.com/image_gallery/poc/pocpics.html

This is where I bought the Marenti Hydrotech and white oak...

http://www.marine-plywood.us/mahogany_meranti.htm

I was able to order the quantities I needed and I only have a few scraps of wood left from my project.

I found no way to order these woods from businesses in Idaho Falls that was less expensive than ordering on-line.  And none of the businesses in Idaho Falls that I contacted seemed to have ever heard of Marenti Hydrotech plywood or Port Orford cedar.

Good luck!

Guy

Thats the problem i have been having. Nowhere around here to buy marine ply or cedar. Nobody around here has ever heard of po cedar so i guess i am outta luck. Never realized the stuff was so rare. Problem is that i only need a few boards to do these gutters and hatch lids and only needing that small a quantity its going to prohibitive to ship such a small amount.. Im just going to need to find an alternative. Which at this point probably wont be wood at all. Havent found anything available locally other than fir. Ive had bad like with fir dimensional lumber warping in the past. Would like to avoid that if possible. The boat is built of foam and honeycomb so ill probably just use that as all i have otherwise are a few scraps of fir marine ply. Its going to make for probably a ton more fabrication time. But i dont have much choice as there are no good lumberyards in the area and even macbeaths in slc, our largest regional wood supplier has limited selection. Nobody local seems interested in trying to help me order anything as im looking for such small quantities of wood. So i may have to pre fabricate all my hatch gutters out of foam core and hope i have enough ply to do rims on the hatch lids. Unfortunatly i think its my only option as the local lumber yard guys seems to think even marine plywood is some kind of exotic specialty item.

Just spit-balling here Chris, but since you're encapsulating everything anyway, why not just use something like white oak? It's strong and relatively rot resistant, and I assume a little more easily obtained than POC.

BTW, I'm glad to see you're posting to your blog again. I've enjoyed watching the build.

Rojo

The problem with white oak is that it is heavy as all get out. Its hard to ignore the fact that with the hull completed and 2/3 of the bulkheads in that this boat is stupid light. I can easily move it around the shop or pick it up off the floor, by myself. So whatever wood i use needs to be light and strong. Cant be packing on the weight at this point. Its bad enough im gonna have to use all this steel hardware before its done..yeesh.

Looking at the glen l boatbuilding woods list, only candidates i see that weigh under 3 lbs per bf or under 40 lbs per cu ft are po cedar, fir, and mahogany. These are the only things i am considering honestly. Everything else is too heavy. Ill probably do mahogany gunnels and trim. I can get a couple decent looking boards of mahogany at the local lumberyard although it costs a kings ransom. I would consider meranti marine ply but it is also really hard to find around here and the cost of getting one sheet of the stuff just to do hatch lids would cost me close to $200...

Thats a little more than im looking to spend especially with all this scrap foam layin around,

Thanks for reading the blog, glad some folks are actually checking it out. I wish i was better at taking pics, but ive already used the better part of 13 gallons of resin on the project and once the glue gets going i leave the phone on the bench playing tunes on random...so basically, photo documentation is tough. But i did get a few more pics last few days which i will post. For those of you interested in non-wood boat building with foam, honeycomb, fiberglass, and a huge vacuum bag setup check it out
Skibumliving.blogspot.com

Hi Chris,

Be glad to show you how to do your layups with one shot using infusion since you are already all set up with a vacuum bag system.Save a ton of work and produce a denser layup.

I think I'd use Honduras Mahogany for gunnels--- definitely not cedar because it isn't hard enough.  Port Orford is so rare its almost a crime to use it anymore.  2O years a go I drove down to Port Orford and brought back a full load on a 3/4 ton.  Walked out in the wood yard and picked out my logs, then rode with the head sawyer as we cut them.

I've been threatening to order another three sheets of 7 lam  Sapele from the east coast. Shipping to Driggs is a little over $ 200, but if anybody else is interested in adding to it with Sapele or Ocume it doesn't get much more expensive to double or triple the order.

Richard

horizonstar@inbox.com

Driggs ID

Randy, I am just finishing up a boat and live in Hailey. Hard to find boat wood in Idaho except maybe in Boise. However if you are up this way, Idaho Lumber in Hailey has a pallet of Alaskan Yellow cedar which I used for my frames. Ask for Mike Brunker there. Also Allred Precision Wood Products in Carey can get 4X16 sheets of Okume. I opted for fir marine ply because of expense. You might check around Idaho Falls  with some of the custom cabinet makers, they could have some resources for hard to find wood. Good luck.

Johnson Brothers in IF has a large selection of woodworking supplies including cvg fir and occasionally white oak. Probably worth your time to make a complete list, take a trip to salt lake city and go to macbeaths hardwoods. They have everything. Very cool store. Large selection of okoume, meranti, others. Lots of long dimensional woods. Good luck and have fun!

Thanks so much for the info. This will give me a great start on the boat.

Randy

Hi Guys and inter-mountain boat builders. I just received some Meranti Hydortek and fir marine ply from Almquist Lumber in Arcata CA. http://www.almquistlumber.com/boatwoods.html.

5 sheets of 6mm & 1 sheet of 12mm hydrotek and 2 sheets of 1/2 fir, total shipping cost was only $130 to Twin Falls. The fir ply is beautiful, A face has no patches, B face only 1 or 2. It comes from a mill in Brookings OR. Makes me want to build a traditional all fir boat. Maybe after I finish this one! 

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