Sapele vs Mahogany

[karkauai]

Hi, WBF,
I was on this forum several years ago when I was building a stripper Hawaiian outrigger sailing canoe. It was the first of it's kind built on Gary Dierking's plans that came about after I begged him to draw some plans (He refused to ship me one of his F/G Uluas...too much hassle). It is featured in his book on Building Outrigger Sailing Canoes. I bought a big ketch (53') and have been sailing the Caribbean 3-4 months a year. This year I left it on the hard in Trinidad until next season. I've finally got some time to get started on my next boat, a 16' Duck Trap Wherry that I'll rig to row and sail. I've already picked up something to think about on Todd's thread about cotton sails....my juices are flowing again and I seem to be working on this boat in my head all the time. It's good to be back (-:

My source for local (Hickory, NC) purchase of Mahogany has gone out of business and I'm looking at Sapele as an alternative for the gunwales and seats/thwarts. Looking at several wood descriptor sites I've seen some that say it is suitable for marine applications and others that say it isn't. It appears to be a bit heavier than mahogany, but I'm not sure if it's enough stronger to scrimp a bit on thicknesses to keep the weight the same. Haven't seen anything specific about rot resistance yet.

Does anyone have any experience with Sapele and have thoughts about it's suitability for this application?

I'm happy to be back building again and to be hearing all the stuff you guys/gals post and hash around.

Thanks in advance for any help/ideas you'd like to share.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~_/)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(\_~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kent

[JimConlin]

I have used it as an alternative to mahogany and it's wholly satisfactory.
It is heavier, so you might reduce scantlings a bit or hollow out the underside of thwarts.

[mcdenny]

I tried Af Mahog, pretty but lots of soft fuzzy grain areas.

Spanish Cedar, awful smell I could not tolerate, fades a lot in the sun.

Just starting second build with Sapele, it's is pretty, easy to get in wide, long pieces, looks nice without any stain and is reasonably priced. I paid $4.89 for 100 bf last week. Only downside I see is that it tends to chip when planed.

[John P Lebens]

Our local wood boat guru recommends Sapele as the best substitute for real Mahogany.

[karkauai]

Thanks gentlemen! I'm off to buy my sapele today.
Kent

[Rational Root]

Be careful with sapele, the grain is very wavy and when plaining it, it likes to lift.
If you are using a hand plane you need to change direction every 12 inches or so.
Also, if (when) you get splinters in your hand sapele is unpleasent.

It does look very nice with a little plain old Teak Oil, or with Varnish, See an mast step below



ANd makes nice seats & trim



But it does have strong "stripes", look at the hi res image here
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hgRqLbTdvYA/TYkaP7WYrbI/AAAAAAAAB3A/A9QnVHYouvo/s1600/IMG_1199.JPG

[karkauai]

Thanks, RR, I've just started dressing some Sapele and have already discovered that tendency to lift and chatter when planing. I'm going to build a curved transom and will need to do a lot of it. Was thinking about using a belt sander for the convex side...any suggestions?
Kent

[Rational Root]

It does sand well. It's quite soft in that sense.

Belt Sander for shape,

Random Orbital , to make it pretty again.

A power planer set very very fine can work better than a hand plane, the speed of the blade seems to help, but then you have lots of noise and bits all over the place.

[gazzer]

I'm using sapele for the sheer clamps, thwarts, and side benches on my current build. It is working out well. Smells good too. It's a bit of a drive from Hickory, but Steve Wall lumber in Mayodan usually has some pretty good stuff. Their African Mahogany (khaya) is priced very reasonable; however I think sapele is easier to work with.

Good luck

-G

[Venchka]

I'm wondering why you didn't use local cedar for walking and sitting surfaces?

[TerryLL]

Did I ever show you guys a pic of the figured sapele I stumbled across at my local wood store? 8/4 by 8" by 14'.

[John Turpin]

It's a pretty wood, but brittle. Oh, and those Sapele splinters! Ouch.