Thanks Larry and Connie for the response to my post. Connie, I was thinking that you might say to go with the oak under the heading of "It's Just a Boat". I might even be able to darken and reden the oak with stain before I oil it. Also under that heading, a fast way to upgrade those delaminated hatch boards is to turn them around so the inside is now the outside. After removing the delaminated layer I flipped the boards, lightly sanded the good side, oiled and flipped the hardware. They look great, but are really only cosmetic for the angle between the boards now allows water to enter the boat. If I'm ever worried about the water coming in I can flip the ugly side out and I'm back to where I started. Of course this is only a temporary solution, for I do plan to rebuild the hatchboards. But if I don't dislike the flipped board enough, I could end up keeping them for a long time. Rick Langer M15 #337