Garapa gold...boatbuilding timber?

[Rob Hazard]

A buddy of mine showed up at the shop with a few sticks of 5/4 decking stock he said was called "Garapa Gold". He said he got it at a local lumberyard, that it's from Brazil, and that it's excellent material for exterior decking. It's hard, heavy, not splintery, and way cheaper than Mahogany.

So I asked him if it might be any good for boats, but, of course, he didn't know.

So...what is this stuff? How rot-proof? Does it glue well? How stable is it?

[The Bigfella]

It sounds more like something you might smoke (but never inhale, of course)

http://www.eastteak.com/products/finehardwoods/garapa_data.html

[Thorne]

Looks good on the rot-proof and gluing question, but will blunt tools due to high silica content -

http://www.jandclumber.com/Garapa.html

[Dan McCosh]

I used it for covering boards about seven years ago when we replaced the deck and deck structure. It's tough, but one of the more difficult woods to work with I've encountered. I never did find a router blade that would trim the edge--spiral, carbide bits just bounced off. I think it was due to a very tough, interlocking grain that seems to resist cutting tools. Ended up using grinders and a power plane to trim it.

[Rob Hazard]

Thanks for the replies.
I grabbed a couple offcuts from his deck railing project and brought them home to play with.
Perhaps some epoxy glue-ups and destructive testing will tell me what I want to know.