Yellow Pine

[seaskiffer]

General question:

Short background:
I have intentions to purchase a seventeen-foot wooden boat. The boat needs some restoration work, but the haul and framing appears to be free from decomposing.

Question: I have discovered that the hull framing has been constructed with Yellow Pine…. Should I be concerned???…

[Mrleft8]

Not really. Good SYP is quite good boat wood. Does it have nice tight grain?

[Pernicious Atavist]

I built my sharpie with SYP frames. They turned out great! What makes you suspect of SYP? Something you heard/experienced?

I second the tight grain!

[Bob Smalser]

Depends on how old the boat is.

http://www.woodenboat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=85460

[Tom Lathrop]

Bob is mostly right about SYP but longleaf is moderately rot resistant, if you could find any. The usual SYP at the dealer is not very resistant but is better than some other woods like spruce, for instance. SYP is also pretty brittle which does not handle hurricanes too well.

Heart pine is a lot like hardening arteries in old folk. The old veins get a blockage and the sap hardens in place, making the wood almost waterproof. As Bob says, this takes longer than plantation owners are willing to wait. I have hundreds of pine trees but almost none of them would have much heart in them.