I stand corrected I always understood basswood is very susceptible to rot and was avoided. I guess I used the term traditional a little loose, traditional Anglo not First Nations.

- you may well be correct; my information was only about basswood's historical use in boats!

I did not mean to imply it is rot-resistant, in fact it is listed as non-durable. However it is used in saunas as an alternative to WRC, and also in food containers that can be expected to be scrubbed from time to time. It resists cracking and I suspect it resists water penetration but it does rot once wetted. The canoes it was used for were light-weight pleasure craft and probably removed from the water after use, so the issue did not arise.

I don't think rot-resistance is particularly relevant for a portable recreational boat. However, due to ill-health my small sailboat was left to the elements for a couple of years, too many unfinished canoes in the workshop to store it under cover. In that time much of the oak became mush and the "marine ply" bottom delaminated. It didn't have a full paint job yet and wasn't epoxy encapsulated. Still, it was an education in the shortcomings of supposedly trustworthy wood.