Four-Day Planet. by H. Beam Piper

Reminiscent of old whaling stories, Four-Day Planet follows the story of Walter Boyd, a scrappy 17-year-old reporter working for his father at the Port Sandor Times. Walt gets tied up in the adventures of the sea-monster hunters on Fenris-a barely-habitable planet with a 2, 000-hour day. The prized-and only-commodity on Fenris is tallow-wax, a miraculous material harvested from the dangerous seas of the planet.
While being set in a grand sci-fi universe, the book packs in more about intrigue, betrayal, and the grit required to survive on a backwater planet of the Federation. The book was later re-published as a "two-for-one" with Lone Star Planet (originally titled A Planet for Texans).