Slowly Uncovering MAYAN's Mysteries

When Wayne Ettel set about restoring MAYAN's hull and deck in 2005, he was forced to replace many of her heavy white oak double sawn frames.  To avoid the rot that had eaten away at the oak, Wayne chose to build the new double sawn frames from Purple Heart, a strong tropical wood with many of the same characteristics of White Oak but without the tendency to rot.  This was one of many subtile changes made to make MAYAN even more resistant to the difficulties faced as these old wooden ladies age gracefully.

During the rebuilding process, the Keel, Horn Timber, Stem, Mast Steps and various other of the heaviest timbers were found to be in perfect conditions after 58 years of service, and are still doing just fine at 67.  Despite his tremendous knowledge of woods, Wayne was unable to determine what kind of wood had been used in Belize all those years ago to fashion these heavy timbers.

Sapodilla Wood

Today I received word from the grandson of MAYAN's builder, Robert Tewes, that the mystery has been solved.  In a conversation with Denys Bradley, Robert learned that like most boats built in Belize MAYAN's heavy timbers were made of Sapodilla wood.  This is a wood that is heavier than water, and thus sinks, is rich in sap and extremely hard to work on with woodworking tools.  All of this explains why the wood remains impervious to water and rot, and also why the paint flakes off it after a time as it is still secreting oil from within it's grain.

Ancient Mayan Sapodilla Door Jam

Sapodilla wood is so strong and durable that the MAYAN people used it to build lintels and beams in their buildings, many of which are with us today after centuries of use.  Today few Sapodilla trees are cut for wood.  Rather the trees are grown for their fruit, a favorite of the local people and the howler monkeys, and the sap is drawn to make organic natural chewing gum.

It will be interesting to see if future owners of MAYAN, a hundred years from now, can discover any degradation in the Sapodilla wood frames and timbers the comprise her backbone.