Marine Plywood?

[Eric]

If it is the same oak ply we have up here in the northeast it has a very thin outer layer, too thin to even sand almost.

[SteveD]

Ok, 3/8" pine ACX could not be found. I went with Fir. What a learning experience. I am now facing this boat project with a new sense of humility.

[JimW]

The "expensive" marine Okoume will save you money and much more time later. Building with it is a pleasure (easy, fast), and I´m a cheap SOB. Time spent fairing (the worst job) will be less. Three years later your first repaint will be easier and cheaper. If you can spare the difference go for the okume, if only for the hull panels.<BR><BR>Jim <IMG SRC="images/forum/icons/icon_razz.gif">

[Mattchew]

I just did a quick search on the web - and found 5 ply 1/4" meranti plywood for $26 a sheet, okume for $42 at Noah´s Marine: <a href="http://www.noahsmarine.com/United_State ... ds-us.html" target="_blank" target="_new">http://www.noahsmarine.com/United_State ... BR><BR>and this was just the first place I searched. Although you would have shipping charges and the wait for arrival, I think it would be worth investigating the mail-order sources. Look in publications like Woodenboat, I know there are advertisers in the back for marine plywood. Also, Jacques might even be able to recommend a source. I didn´t really look around the bateau website for plywood sources, it might already be posted somewhere... <BR><BR>Just trying to help!<BR>Matt.<BR><BR>

[SteveD]

Thanks everyone! I´m glad I got my kit here. Between your posts, the information about plywood in this web site, and having done a search on the previous bateau fourum web site I now know more about the use of plywood in boatbuilding than I ever imagined before. Now it´s time to get some experience. I´m going to plundge into the boat with the fir fully recognizing the fact that it may be difficult to shape, but also that there are at least 3 ways to over come that in this forum. I will take everyone´s imput into consideration as I build this boat and in what I will use for the next boat. Some of the resources you have listed look great and much easier to use than riding around here looking for materials.<BR><BR>The reasons I am building this boat are to build a boat with my kids, see if I can make any sense of fiberglass construction, and to see if it makes sense to build my own larger boat (hopefully the 25´ Radon I saw in another post).<BR><BR>Now, does is anyone know any web sources I might use to make sense of the blueprints, or the cut outs?<BR> <IMG SRC="images/forum/icons/icon_eek.gif"> <BR><BR><font size=1>[ This message was edited by: SteveD on 28-08-2002 11:45 ]</font>

[UncleRalph]

Steve,<BR>It looks like you have made your decision on plywood and that is great. I see you are in Maryland - for future reference, one of the largest marine plywood distributers is right here in Maryland - Harbor Sales. I purchased my plywood from them and they delivered it the next day. I am also in Maryland and there was no shipping charge. I have it delivered to my place of business. I don´t know if they will deliver to a residence. Their web site is www.harborsales.net.<BR><BR>Ralph

[DFJohnson]

Hey DWC.<BR><BR>Yes, <A HREF="http://www.worldpanel.com/">World Panel</A>, located in Riviera Beach, is an exceptional source. I actually drove up to look the place over and discovered they carry just about everything you can imagine for wood boatbuilding. They´re not the cheapest on the planet but they carry quality materials and have delivered twice for me in Delray Beach.<BR><BR>Cheers,

[SeanMTHarpooner]

Ahhh the neverending search for good plywood! I had no luck finding quality plywood here in Billings, MT so I ordered 2 1/4" sheets of marine grade Okume from a local cabinet and finish woods shop. They charged me $56 bucks a sheet and the kicker was the $75 freight charge to get it in from Oregon. For that kind of money I could drive my pickup to Oregon and pick up the wood myself! So, for the next project (FS14) I went with the regular 1/4" Okume that they stocked for $27 bucks a sheet. Thicker wood was hard to find, so I went with 1/2" (no 3/8" available) Maple(!) for $40 per sheet that didn´t seem to be skinned too thinly to sand. After building the boat, I have found that it bends easily (to these plans, anyway) and the veneer takes epoxy easily, is really smooth, and sands great. We´ll see how the final fairing goes and how it takes paint, but fully coated with epoxy, it looks great.

[jacquesmm]

I locked this discussion. As usual, threads about plywood get very long, become difficult to search and anyway, most of it has been said before.<BR>Feel free to start another thread, I will clean up this one.<BR>Before posting, please read our HowTos´ about plywood.

[pbyrley]

Steve, This is a late reply so may be moot. I just wanted to say that a lot of us V12 (and V10) builders used pine ACX or EVEN BCX. I shuffeled back and forth from Lowes to Home Depot and found the best sheets of BCX 1/4 (or 5/32) and 3/8 (or 13/32). Usually I had to pull off the top 8 or 10 sheets - all the rejects are on top. Wear your work gloves! I found no problem with the BCX. I followed other´s advice from the old message board and bent the chine panels part way, for overnight then pulled some more to complete the bend. I think V10 is an even more severe bend so take your time.