: I'm curious - is choice of wood critical to individual designs? Why cedar for
: some, redwood for others?

Not for me... price, availability , variety, are my criteria. Clear cedar
costs more than redwood and is harder to find where I live. I've used pine,
fir, and hemlock but I prefer cedar overall, with redwood my second choice.

In fact, I prefer aluminum tubing most of all. It's round with no shaping,
sanding, or finishing required plus all tubes have the same excellent flex
characteristics so it's easy to true up a frame. But that's just me.

See the attached aluminum, plywood, lashed / epoxied, nylon skinned Baidarka
below. Easy to build, light weight and very strong.... my kind of boat

Tom