I am going to get off these pirogues and paddle boats now but I just wanted to show you how remarkably poplar darkens in the sun. The boat on the left is old and the one on the right is just seeing the light of day for the first time. In less than two days it was even darker than the other one because the wood was old growth and all heart where the other is a fairly young tree. I once built a whole boat out of a poplar tree that was only 23 years old. It is the right stuff.