thompsondockside.com

whoa! santa arrrived a little early and left me some beautiful white oak and sassafras frames for my '57 thompson sea coaster. cool! BUT, they are only one inch wide as opposed to the original frames which are one and an eighth inch wide. do i dare use them? i don't want to diss santa, but i don't want to compromise the structure of the boat either. HELP!

To use the White oak ribs that are an 1/8 inch narrower than the original is up to you. I don't believe that it will affect the structural integrity of the hull. Just won't match the exsisting ribs.
I have never heard of using sasafras wood for boat work. Don't know anything about it's rot resistance.
Karl.

Andre,

I looked up sassafras, also known as blackash or cinnamon wood, in a book I have on woods of the world and it states that it is used in boat and ship building for the super structure. It also states that it has a medium stregnth in all categories except stiffness which is low. It's lower in strength then ash, althought similar in appearance. It says it moderately durable. Sapwood is liable to attack by post dust beetles. Heartwood is moderately resistant to preservative treatment but sapwood is permeable.
There is nothing mentioned about rot resistance in the book.

Good Luck,

Phill

thanks guys. you've given me more to think about. of the twenty-seven frames, only seven remain that could be saved (all forward of where the dashboard would be located). it's been suggested that after i take the frames out of the jig and left them for a day or two that i use cpes on them before they are installed. maybe that would insure their resistance to rot, etc. EVEN more to think about - no one ever told me this resotration would be simple!!!! but, i'm having a lot of fun and learning so much from this site. MERRY CHRISTMAS to all...