marine plywood Philly area

[bluemansailor]

Well I'm at the stage where the old bulkheads are out, hull and ceiling are grinded down and ready for new bulkheads. Need 3/4 marine plywood and 1/4 marine ply- anyone in the Philly/Delaware/Central NJ have recommendations for a good supplier.
thanks

[orbb]

Chesapeake Light Craft in Annapolis. A little farther than your designated area, but still in the ball park.

[Thad Van Gilder]

Chesapeake like craft is cheap for occume, but that stuff rots when you sneeze on it.
most appropriate for small boats that are kept dry.

for good doug fir, meranti, and khaya, try harbor sales in maryland or south jersey lumberman's in Mays Landing, NJ. south jersey is more expensive, but he may be much closer for you.

-Thad

[andrewdarius]

I second Harbor Sales. They ship free to Philadelphia, and may do the same for you.

I drew my hull in AutoCAD, sent them the sectional shapes I needed, and they were able to cnc bulkheads for me. I had the job sitting at home two days from sending the file. They are a good group of people.

On another occasion, I drove down there to hand pick a few panels of Sapele, and they interrupted/paused their current job on the cnc to cut what I needed so I didn't have to wait. One of the guys said, "Anyone willing to drive from Philly deserved the attention".

Andy

[Mike Vogdes]

Diamond M lumber on Rt 38 in Mount Holly NJ. They have lots of marine ply and lumber suitable for boat building in stock. The place is huge and they do everything the old fashion way, they don't even have a computer, amazing this day in age...

[Thad Van Gilder]

Interesting, Mike.... I didn't know about them. I'll have to check them out.

[Mike Vogdes]

Thad you will love this place. Bring money..

[LyleRussell]

I'll second Chesapeake Light Craft. I have had excellent luck buying wood and epoxy from them. They have other wood than okume (sp?).

[M. J. Notigan]

Mike,
Interesting you brought them up. This spring, my sister was having new windows put in her home and I took her there to pick up some 2x4's and other trim material for the windows. Drove her in my truck to the side of the main building after she paid for the materials and one of the yard workers starts picking out 8 2x4's. Out of 8 total, 2 were hopelessly warped. I asked the yard bird to take those 2 and give up 2 straight ones. He grumbled "I can only give you 2 and that's it, you gotta take what I give ya."


After bringing the materials back to the house I asked the carpenter what's up with that place and he said that he gets the same kind of treatment there and he's been in business for over 25 years and still can't believe how they treat the customer/contractor.......so having said that, that's my 2 cents. After that experience I would not consider them when there are more business friendly vendors out there.

Take Care,
Mike
Building Bolgers Microtrawler

[willmarsh3]

+1 for Harbor in Maryland. I recently ordered some Sapele from them for a cockpit table. As I needed three 2x4 sheets they cut the 4x8 into 2x4 with the grain running length wise. This saved quite a lot on shipping over a single 4x8 piece. And it showed up at my door quickly.