OSB

[OconeePirate]

I stayed up too late last night, then got up too early this morning, so I didn't have time to forget the silly ideas I had while waiting for the sky to fall. I only saw one shooting star, and that was out of the corner of my eye so I might have imagined it. :(

Has anyone ever built a hull using oriented strand sort of construction? I'm thinking it would be like a cold molded hull, only laid up with the large 'flakes' of wood fiber like used in OSB. Obviously it'd have to be epoxy or other strong water proof adhesive as opposed to whatever school glue sort of product they use for home construction grade OSB.

Seems like the sort of thing that someone before me would have thought about, and someone would have tried. Just wondering.

-Thomas

[Mrleft8]

It'd be like building a boat out of very heavy sponge.

[OconeePirate]

LOL... I never said I thought it was a good idea. Just seemed like something someone may have tried in the dark ages of composite construction.

[wizbang 13]

NO!

[switters]

There are no stupid questions, but really, it would be like building a zeppelin out of lead. I have been guilty of crimes against wooden boats, small infractions only, but that could be a felony.

[erster]

Well something came to mind when reading this thread.

http://nogoodreason.typepad.co.uk/.a/6a00d8341c0c0e53ef010534c856b5970c-800wi

[BarnacleGrim]

I saw an OSB boat on YouTube a long time ago. It didn't work out too well.

I suppose the closest thing you get to cold molding OSB flakes would be turning a chopper gun into a bulimic beaver and spray the flakes and epoxy into a female mold. But if you had a chopper gun and a female mold you'd probably be in the glass boat business, not the OSB boat business.

[OconeePirate]

I guess thats kind of what I had in my head, was using the wood flakes like chopped fiberglass.

Erster... Caffeine free? And I'm supposed to be the heretic?

[Bruce Hooke]

Aside from the fact that I think the strength to weight ratio on OSB is not so great (making a poor choice as a hull material right from the get go), it seems to me that trying to in effect make a "sheet" of OSB in the shape of a hull would be rather difficult from a technical perspective. I think making OSB involves a fair amount of pressure (much more than you could get with vacuum bagging), which would be very hard to generate over the curved surface of a hull. I don't think wood chips would "spray" at all well or if it was sprayed I don't think it could be convinced to "lay down" like chopped glass fibers and polyester resin.

[BarnacleGrim]

Yes, it would require a plug and some heavy equipment to press down on the hull in the mold. The costs would be many times that of a fibreglass boat.

I love making up hypotheticals like this myself ;)

[erster]

I guess thats kind of what I had in my head, was using the wood flakes like chopped fiberglass.

Erster... Caffeine free? And I'm supposed to be the heretic?
Controversial is the least of your problems using OSB if in fact you subject it to the simular set of circumstances. Both stranded glass and OSB will obsorb water. One continues to float and actually maintain some form of intergrity. The other, OSB becomes a wet noddle or a soupy blend. Have at it. You do not wet out the preformed OSB board particules like you do the stranded glass. All you are doing is making an attempt to seal the surface. But OSB sheets are not really meant to be used to create tortured shapes. There is no continuous run of any structual components that makes up the sheets and can fatigue when stressed. Try it sometime.

[OconeePirate]

My thought wasn't using commercially available OSB. My idea was using a process similar to whatever they do to make OSB panels, but using appropriate adhesives, to create a hull. Something where the fibers would be completely wet out.

I don't plan on it, seems like a lot of work, but with all the engineered wood/plastic products on the market right now it seemed like something someone might have tried.

Like someone pointed out above, the pressures involved to bond it would have to be great. I guess it would only work if you were making enough of one design to justify building a serious two part mold. Perhaps wind up with something closer to what would be used in an ABS molding process?

I know exactly what building grade OSB does when exposed to moisture, its always confused me that it is considered an underlayment or sheathing material. My business is in a building that is around a century old. For some reason there are lots of holes through the floor, under carpet, that someone in the past thought it would make sense to patch with OSB. No basement, just a very short crawl space. I about broke my leg stepping through one of these. I've since repatched the larger holes that scared me with 3/4 ply, but there are still random small soft spots. If the carpet is ever replaced, they will get patched properly.

[BBSebens]

Its an interesting thought for sure. I see where your coming from.

Im sure its physically possible. practical though.. i doubt it. in that form, the strength of the wood isnt anywhere near the strength of Fiberglass.

This thread got me thinking about plywood boats though.... I had been pondering, how different are plywood boats from glass boats? seems like its all your doing is adding a filler to make the glue go farther. BUT...... The oriented grain of the plywood has a huge effect on the strength of the hull.

Lets summarize---
OSB does not belong on/in a boat. could you? yes. Should you? hell no.

[OconeePirate]

So next on the drawing board.... I want to build a submarine, but it gets so stuffy down in those tubes, so I've got this idea for screen doors....

[G.Sherman]

I have a chunk of "Shamrock". I'm researching cloning another boat from this scrap, anyone ever done this? Will I need samples of the fasteners, winches, paint, halyards and such?:p

[Robert Meyer]

So next on the drawing board.... I want to build a submarine, but it gets so stuffy down in those tubes, so I've got this idea for screen doors....

Naw ... don't think the screen door will work. But ya gotta keep thinking outside the traditional box or nothing new will ever be created. 99.9% of the time you sink, but that last tiny percent makes you a genius and possibly a lot of money. Keep scheming.

[JimConlin]

The resin/fiber ratio in chopped glass is high enough that the mechanical properties of CSM stink. Substituting wood for the glass and epoxy for the vinylester resin would probably yield even worse resin ratios, mechanical properties and costs.

[David G]

Dutch... is that you? :p

[MPM]

Don't miss the January issue. In it, we present the recently launched MISS OSB (no, I'm not kidding). She's a 65' fast motoryacht built by a competent and reputable shop in Florida, for a client whose business is based on OSB. The bright-finished hull is planked in this material, and then sheathed in epoxy and 'glass.
--Matt Murphy

[BBSebens]

January Issue of what?

This I got to see...

[SMARTINSEN]

January Issue of what?

This I got to see...
Matt is one of the editors of WB Magazine

[JimConlin]

Don't miss the January issue. In it, we present the recently launched MISS OSB (no, I'm not kidding). She's a 65' fast motoryacht built by a competent and reputable shop in Florida, for a client whose business is based on OSB. The bright-finished hull is planked in this material, and then sheathed in epoxy and 'glass.
--Matt Murphy
Using flat sheets of manufactured OSB and glass-sheathing them is a lot less far-fetched than DIY OSB.

[OconeePirate]

LOL... I got 212 today. I wish that there were some better pictures of the finish. I imagine it looks almost crystalline under the epoxy and varnish.

[Lewisboats]

wouldn't a paper boat qualify as an OSB boat? There were plenty build around the beginning of last century (I think).

[B_B]

LOL... I got 212 today. I wish that there were some better pictures of the finish. I imagine it looks almost crystalline under the epoxy and varnish.

yes, truly, if WoodenBoat Magazine is going to publish something so outlandish they had better do a good job of explaining the whole process.

Matt J. Murphy shouldn't be so flippant - show us what went on, what the process was, show us some better pics (the ones in the mag. appear just as 'brown' as any other), give us details, or wuss out completely and just stick to conventional stuff.

Really, WoodenBoat, if you're going to challenge convention do a full expose, have Jagels write a bit about OSB in general and this type of OSB in particular, and let's have some naysayers and some cheerleaders. But half a dozen lines of innocuous say-nothing? On OSB boats? In WoodenBoat?

Opportunity wasted.

[Thorne]

A closeup of the finished hull was certainly what I wanted to see in that article. I can attest that the stuff soaks up water like a sponge and swells in the process.

[Stan D]

We could always ask OrangeAfroMan.

[StevenBauer]

Miss OSB is listed for sale here:

www.boatcan.com/showboat.php?ad=1242160836

They are asking a mere $9,995,000.


I thought there would be more discussion of her here. While I know how crappy regular OSB is there is a kind of OSB that I will use in residential construction - it's called Advantech and is made with a much higher resin content than regular OSB. It doesn't soak up water at all and is very stable dimensionally.



Steven

[phiil]

How about some of this stuff
http://www.nashvillewraps.com/shreds/wood-excelsior/c-022166.html
mixed with epoxy?
You would have long fibers, and could form it into any shape you wanted.
Of course, theirs is aspen. Maybe get it made in WRC for great rot resistance.
(tongue only slightly in cheek)

[rbgarr]

It confounds me when someone builds something like that and then turns around and sells it immediately. Perhaps they are just in the habit of having everything they own be on the market all the time? The wide angle photos are deceptive also.

[OconeePirate]

Seeing as I have no idea what boats are supposed to cost, how does his asking price compare to a similar boat of more traditional construction? Being a one off design of experimental construction seems that he would lose money on the sale.

Of course if the only point of the boat was to promote his business maybe the for sale sign is just to get people's attention?

I googled Miss OSB and found some better pictures of the vessel.
About half way down this page...
http://www.yachtforums.com/forums/general-yachting-discussion/4472-trivia-pursuit-photo-round-77.html

[StevenBauer]

http://www.yachtforums.com/forums/attachments/general-yachting-discussion/30563-trivia-pursuit-photo-round-yf2.jpg?d=1243441128


She really is a beautiful boat for a stinkpot:

http://www.boatcan.com/photo/1242160836.jpg


http://www.yachtforums.com/forums/attachments/general-yachting-discussion/30567-trivia-pursuit-photo-round-yf6.jpg?d=1243441422


http://www.yachtforums.com/forums/attachments/general-yachting-discussion/30562-trivia-pursuit-photo-round-yf1.jpg?d=1243438213