Stuck trying to find book...Wooden/Organic Spacecraft

[jdot]

All I remember is that the spaceships were either wooden or something organic, one of the main characters has an affair with his superior's/friend's wife or daughter, and while a group of people are on a 'mission' or something at another planet/galaxy, there's some kind of ambush.

i remember some details about the cover, it was a male character in what looks to be a wooden/non-metallic spacecraft's cockpit out in space. i made a quick 2 minute mockup in photoshop of what the general thing i remember is like, hopefully it jogs someone's memory.

http://i191.photobucket.com/albums/z182/zombiesandsunshine/cover.jpg

something like that. any ideas?

[jdot]

I guess I should add that I read this sometime in the early 90s but that it was an older looking novel already by the time I got it.

[Slack Bladder]

A wild guess here, but it might be The Wooden Spaceship by Bob Shaw. Then again, it might not.