There is Teak and then there is everything else. There is no other
wood that will stand up to the elements without any maintenance
whatsoever and not be damaged -- sure, it turns gray, but if you get
tired of gray, you can scrape it off and you have brown again.

If you go aboard the battleship Massachusetts, you will see gray Teak
decks -- take a key or blade and make a light scrape and you'll see
golden brown, even though it must be thirty years since her decks have
had any significant attention....

The only real problem with Teak is that it looks so good when brown
that people scrape, sand, scrub, clean, it down so that eventually it
goes away. Better to just touch it lightly once or twice a season and
be happy with gray-brown.

You'll pay more or less double for Teak versus the other candidates
(real Mahogany -- swietenia species -- Iroko, etc.) but IMHO its worth
every penny. We may decide to cap Fintry's bulwarks with wood; if we
do, there's no question what wood it will be....

Jim Woodward
www.mvfintry.com


ospam (Over40pirate) wrote in message ...
I am looking for a recomendation for a type of wood to use to replace the teak
cockpit coamings on my sailboat.
The widest end is 11" and they are 8' long.
Someone recomended Iroko. Is anyone familiar with this wood, and its
suitability? How does it glue, bend? I will need to bend it silghtly.
Thanks in advance, K