Cypress (out of Louisiana)...

[Truckmen]

Is anyone using cypress for any part of a wooden sailboat?

[Jim Ledger]

I used it for side planks on my centerboard trunk. Nice stuff.

[Jay Greer]

Both dry rot spores and wood eating critters hate it! Cypress is a very good wood for underwater planking.
Jay

[pipefitter]

It great for boat building.... But, I can't any up here...
The best Cypress for boatbuildin' is from sinker log...
Isn't that Cypress forests are protected down there?

Yep.

Supposedly,the 2nd growth fence stock doesn't contain the abundant amount of cypressene oil that takes 300 plus years to achieve IIRC which made for the most rot resistant heartwood. But,it seems to hold up well on fences and spas as it is so maybe it is at least as good as cedar.I recall reading of old growth dock pilings in Savannah that have been around since the 1700's. Any remaining ancient trees are protected.

Clear sinker Cypress is more expensive than mahogany.

[Don Victore]

The cypress ( Monterey Cypress) I've used here isn't good for much.Excepte perhaps making rustic furniture. Only because of the number of knots. If clear cypress is to be found I would imagine it to be excellent for boats.

[seedtick]

You can still get old growth cypress around here, but you have to load it yourself

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid225/p76410a229101874b661c6d843d93fead/e914c91a.jpg

[chuckm]

Sinker cypress is old growth perfect boatbuilding wood. The local mill-wright in my area sold/ gave me a good amount of "tank" cypress. What they used to build the old rail-road water stations out of. It has a orange tinge to it. No knots smells great. I was kinda worried about gluing it up, but just wiped it down with acetone prior to glue up and it worked just fine. I bet I could get more, especially when you tell the owner what your using it for , they get excited too.

[pipefitter]

You can still get old growth cypress around here, but you have to load it yourself

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid225/p76410a229101874b661c6d843d93fead/e914c91a.jpg

That's a great picture of a highly motivated individual. I read that the ancient trees could be 8-12 feet across at the base.You would think with all the critters and water we have in the South,that all the trees would have evolved to be rot proof by now.

[Bayboat]

One of my sons has a 36' Sam Crocker schooner built in 1932. I was told by a former owner that the planking is swamp cypress, I think Taxodium distichum, with copper riveted sawn white oak frames. The hull is without rot, except for two short planks (oak) in the way of the horn timber and the block (also oak) for the rudder post. She was out of the water from 1971 to last year. After some renewed caulking and paying we launched to move to another yard a short distance away. She was wet for about 4 hours and leaked only about ten gallons. Now she's out again for reconstruction of the interior. That cypress is an excellent wood for planking. It takes up fast and is easily worked. I don't know about availability today, or whether it is the same wood that's called "cypress" today. Probably not. There seems to be a lot of confusion among Cupressus, Juniper and various cedars as well as "bald cypress", the latter (I think) also called "swamp cypress".