What type of wood is commonly used to make boats and why?

i'm trying to see what wood would soke up the least amount of water for a project|||as a boat builder for 35 years, I have to say terriann did an excellent cut and paste; different woods are used in different parts of the boat for different reasons...oak for strength, mahogany for planking and beauty, teak for beauty, pine for cheapness and easy workability........let me add some thoughts from experience:





mahogany is also used as a planking material.....my boat for example.





She's 38 feet long and has about 20 rows of planks on each side.......I figure each plank swells about an eight of an inch..so when the boat is in the water and 'swelled up' she tries to grow an additional two and a half inches! Since the planks are well fastened to the oak frames, they don't actually move but compress against each other forming a watertight seal and a very strong almost one piece structure.....





teak, because it is an oily wood, swells least of all, and as trerri says , doesn't rot.....it would be used more for hulls except for its price...here in St Thomas, I would have to spend almost 16,000 dollars to re-plank my boat in teak...just for the wood. There are some South American woods like Angelique and Silver Bali that are being used as teak substitutes now a days....





on the other end of things, cypress is used, mostly in Southern built boats, as a hull planking because it swells most of all....want to add to your project? Get two identical pieces of wood, one cypress, one teak and measure them and WEIGH them.then throw 'em in a bucket of water and go away....after a few days you'll be surprised not only how much more the cypress has grown but how much more it weighs from the water it has absorbed|||I don't know much about it, but I believe, at least long ago they used teak. I could be totally wrong here though. I just read a lot and I think I remember reading that somewhere.





I just did a search and came up with this. I'll post the URL for this site.





What woods are used in boats? Does it matter where they are used?





Builders will try to use species of wood that are indigenous to the area for cost and availability. The most commonly used species are:





White Oak 鈥?for the keel, ribs and structural members is used for its great strength, durability, rot resistance and bending properties.





White Pine, Cedar, or Douglas Fir 鈥?is used in planking for its ability to swell and make the boat water tight and rot resistant.





Sitka Spruce 鈥?for the mast and other spars, for its strength to weight ratio, as you don鈥檛 want a lot of weight above your head.





Mahogany 鈥?is often used for trim, hatches, doors and for decorative pieces. It is strong and rot resistant, but can be expensive. (Not native to North America)





Teak 鈥?is the most rot resistant wood available. It is good for decking, planking, and often used for trim, hatches and other decorative areas, especially on fibreglass boats to make them seem more expensive (this wood is not native to North America).