: I'm always amused with books that suggest using sitka Spruce for a skin boat.
: If I had a piece of straight grained Sitka spruce 17 ft. long. I would
: hang it over the mantel. Sitka Spruce is like gold and just about
: un-obtainable on the east (maybe everywhere) The musical instrument
: companies buy it up years before it's ready for harvest it's so valuable.
: (even those in Japan)

I've found very similar results in my search on the West Coast. It seems that Sitka Spruce is a very rare commodity. My best price I could find was near $10.00 b'. And getting anything longer than a 1" x 4" x 8' was hoping for a miracle. The two hardwood dealers here in Fresno, Calif. quoted me that and said that they are paying over $7.80 b' at the dock in San Diego and L.A.. And then the majority of it is sold before it gets there. They have units of it but none is for sale. Quite often the buyers sit and bid with other small dealers for the scraps. And, as the material I saw in their stores, most of that is open, loose grained stock and not what you want in your boat.

My advice on this would be to find an alternative. I'm looking for some fairly straight-grained Sugar or White Pine.

Good Luck on finding Sitka.

Rehd