Marine Ply Qs

[almeyer]

Did a little shopping yesterday in anticipation of building a Penobscot 14 next year. The designer calls for the strakes to be 1/4" okoume. The local place around here sells okoume for $63 per sheet (ouch!). Hydrotek goes for $35 per sheet, while Aquatek is getting $24 a sheet. The hydrotek is supposed to be BS 1088 rated. What's the difference in these types of materials? Thanks for your help.
Al Meyer

[NormMessinger]

I'm not familiar with hydro or aquitek but with the plywood I am familiar with you get what you pay for. I've built boats from $14 luan underlayment, A-C exterior grade fir, A-B marine fir, A-C SuperPly, and bs-1088 Okoume Marine Ply. (Listed in increasing quality) The okoume is far superior, the others mission adequated for the purpose though I will not use fir for quick and dirty boats if SuperPly is available. Ya pays yer money and ya takes yer chances. Caughing up for the good stuff is tough but in the end when the project is complete you'll have fogotten the bite.

--Norm

[Bruce Hooke]

Can you find out what wood the "Hydrotek" and "Aquatek" are made of"? That would tell us a lot. I suspect they are made out of less desirable woods, which would explain the lower cost...

[Martin Dumas]

Found on the Edensaw web site: Hydrotek and Aquatek are both made of Meranti ("Philippine mahogany"). Hydrotek is BS1088 and Aquatek is BS6566. Meranti is heavier than okoume.

Martin

[Keith Wilson]

I've used Malaysian BS 1088 meranti (6mm 5-ply) for two boats now, and I like it a lot. The local price is between the two grades you mention. It's substantially heavier than Okoume (25% or thereabouts?), and appears to be quite a bit stronger. There are no visible patches and eessentially no voids; the quality appears to be at least as good as the Okoume I've used. It glues and finishes well, and is IMHO a prettier color than Okoume when finished bright (dark reddish-brown rather than orangish). The surface plies can be a little splintery, but otherwise it seems to be very good stuff, and passes the 3-hour boil test on the kitchen stove. I'll let you know in 15 years how durable it is, although Okoume is no great wonder in that respect either.

I wouldn't want to use Meranti in a boat where weight is absolutely critical, a Rushton Wee Lassie or similar, but for a boat like the Penobscot 14 I think it would be excellent. I can just about guarantee that Arch Davis didn't do a stress analysis of the boat when specifying materials.

OTOH, I think I'd rather not know about the forestry practices in Malaysia that produced those perfect veneers - I don't know that any other tropical hardwood plywood is any better, however.

[ 06-27-2002, 06:11 PM: Message edited by: Keith Wilson ]

[mower]

Al:
When I built a Penobscot 14, I paid a lot more than $63.00 per sheet for top grade BS1088 Okume 5 ply 1/4 inch plywood. I bought it one sheet at a time, it was so dear. However, I will never regret paying top price for the best wood I could find. Make sure you are getting 5 ply, pay $63 per sheet and don't look back. Your builing pleasure, and your results will be dramatically more with the best quality plywood. Additionally, your frustration level will probably by lower. Good Luck!

[Dagon]

I'm using Hydrotek too. One thing to be aware of is that the color varies drastically from dark red/brown to almost white, so make sure you pick through the stack to get consistent color.

[JimJ]

Last weekend I spent a great amount of time looking for marine ply here. Wanted the locally produced product

http://www.australply.com.au/pr_marine.html

but was told "We only stock imported stuff". It was Malaysian BS 1088 meranti and when you compare it to the local Hoop Pine plywood, there is no contest.

The Hoop Pine plywood (9mm) has 7 ply against 5 ply for the meranti. I have used both and the Hoop Pine is a delight to work with.

The reason given for not stocking the locally produced ply is the cost. Admittedly it is more expensive, but I believe it is a superior product What I dislike is not being given a choice by the retailer.

As to the doubts expressed about the source of the veneers, all hoop pine plywood is produced from Australian Hoop Pine plantation timber.

Pity they don't export to the USA.

[almeyer]

Thanks for your responses. I'll make sure that whatever I buy it is 5-ply. The heavier weight of meranti isn't that big an issue. I'm already certain the boat is going to be too heavy to toss in the back of the truck, so on the trailer she goes. The extra strength of meranti compared to okoume also seems a plus. OTOH, cost is a big issue. I plan to build the sail from a SailRite kit, can save about $200 that way, and even going so far as to make my own blocks and cleats, rather than pay Waste Marine's dear prices. Besides, the homemade fittings should look better. I'm also looking at making my own oars, though doubt there would be much savings there versus buying them outright. Thanks again for your comments.
Al

[NormMessinger]

Oh, yeah? Have you price cheap junk boat oars in the stores that cater to sportsmen? Make your own. They will be nicer, too.

--Norm

[almeyer]

Point well taken, Norm. I'll definately build the oars. I'm not real fast at building, but I enjoy it as much as being on the water. But now my estimated construction time of two years is now looking like it may push three? Oh well, like I said, I enjoy building anyway.
Al