Cypress, suitable for strip or cold molded construction?

[JCP]

I posted this elsewhere but with no response:

I've often wondered about the suitability of using cypress for cold molded veneers, and or strip built construction. It bends and takes glues and epoxies well. Its fairly lightweight when dry. And is highly rot resistant, so if a breach in a fiberglass or other barrier occurs it should fair better than some other choices.

Any thoughts?

[Bob Smalser]

Its fairly lightweight when dry.

Not compared to other boat woods. Look at the mechanical properties that determine scantling size again, in comparison with Doug Fir, Alaska Yellow, Port Orford, Western Red and the two eastern cedars.

Baldcypress is heavy for its strength....as heavy as the strongest and heaviest Doug Fir, but without the strength of Port Orford, which is lighter in weight than Baldcypress.

You'll have a substantially heavier boat building with Baldcypress to scantling sizes engineered for a specific strengths.

Moreover, my family used to import Baldcypress from a thousand miles away by the truckload just to build greenhouse frames, benches and flats from it. No other wood soaks up and holds water like Baldcypress, both a weight factor and when coatings are breeched.

While it's not quite this simple in the practical world of scantling size, and none of these are showstoppers that can't be ameliorated by not overbuilding and the use of epoxy...they are the reasons you don't see Baldcypress in more strips and veneer than you do Western Red Cedar.