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the ash was used as trim alternating with cherry,, it more importantly was used in the seating slats that were bent to follow the curve of the stern.. most of my 30ftr files are to large to post but some 40ftr info give you the idea,, all of the "trim" wood would have been kept in a good coat of waxed varnish..
I'm No boat builder so I may have this totally wrong. I am surprised at the use of ash wood on a boat, I have only used ash wood to build the frames for vintage car bodies, the wood frames were covered with either metal sheet skins or fabric. The ash frames were used because ash was a light flexible wood, but it tended to wet rot after a few years due to the effect of rain water etc. So you can see my surprise at it being used in a marine environment. Hope you find a suitable replacement.Mike
Ash does get used a lot in boats, fine as long as it is kept painted or varnished - it will soak up water very easily if left bare.
thinking of taking a good try at the navy type bottom ends (I have spare rod castings on hand) looks like navy idea was for quick in place bearing replacement, knock the wedges out-drop the "strap"- swap out the bearing blocks- "strap" up and wedge.. as it may not look as positive compared to nuts and bolts most likely held well.. and I will have the benefit of loc-tite type products.. been looking at the box type links and thinking that they offer me the "chance" to get a small rotary table for my mill. The cone cylinder head, piston and bottom, thinking the navy engineers moved the shaft gland unit "up" into the cylinder,, making for shorter frames and maybe block.. the US Navy at this time was a driving force in developing tech of the day.. one area was in advancing foundry work (many castings most likely were more complicated than needed) the creation of the navy ordnance dept, so that no guns would be of foreign production..the "harvey" steel armour process was developed with navy funding..
have done some more design work and ordered up some materials,, thinking they will look close to the prototype,, planning a built up crankshaft, loc-tite 603 and pins,, the webs have been machined and just need drilling-reaming,, thinking that the connecting rod shaft sections (5/16ths shaft) could be centered drilled,, small cross shaft holes added,, the idea being that it would work as oiling points for the bottom ends,,plugs could be added to the shaft ends (one with small oil hole) making the work like reservoirs,, thoughs ?