Enough of the vacation Phil, march down or up to the big box store and get your ply. You have boat to build and we need pictures. Dave McCann posted a link to Baltic birch Ply. Good strong stuff. Now at the big box store ask them where the floor underlayment is. This what to look for in 1/4" ply. It should have at least five ply's. Baltic Birch also has five ply's . The point on using this Ply is no voids, waterpoof glue. It is a little bit cheaper about $27 for a 4' by 8' sheet. They also sell it in 4' by 5' sheets. The big box store has a "M" in it's name.
The forest Products Lab tested moisture penetration in wood over a period of time using different covering materials. Epoxy, Paint, Varnish, Linseed oil, ETC. The winner is...... Three coats of Epoxy The surprising second finish or high on the list was Paraffin wax. I don't have link to that study right now but is worth looking up. One of the worst "sniff sniff" is boiled linseed oil.
John Wesford recommends on the boats he designs three coats of oil primer followed by three coats of oil enamel. The bottoms epoxy and fiber glass.
What ever you do we want pictures.....
Why stop there? He can have all the cardboard he wants from the pile out behind the big box store - I'm sure if he waxed it really well it would hold up great.
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Thats what I was thinking Todd Welcome The link gives Phil all the information he needs. A good wax job.
T
I had a wonderful baby boy, who is 22 months old now! Braiden Michael Stockdill
As for the birch, it's been outside in a tarp tent the whole time, and still looks like brand new. No checking, warping or anything. There's even some scrap pieces laying on the ground that haven't swollen or changed in any other way. I was new to this forum and was excited about building a boat and liked the Devlin's and was very gung ho, and then, life happened.
I was wrong about the argument anyway, it was if you could build the boat for under 1K. Yes life happens, I've seen that myself.
T
Yes, that was it! I'm sitting at under $200 to date, and figure on another $300 or so to finish it the way I want it. It will get glassed inside and out, if that makes you feel any better about it. And I, unlike you, do not count my time as money. I make my money at work.
Derek, I don't count my time as money.
Years and years ago, I built a little pirogue and my mom helped me glass it. My mother is in her mid-70s now and she glassed one boat in her life and will never help anyone build a boat again. I cherish that little boat, not only because of the birds I killed out of it, but also because my mother helped me glass it when I was a young punk and needed a hand. I built it the best I could and it has lasted because of that and I still have it and I'll have it forever if I choose to. I'll always remember my mother sweating her ass off glassing the only boat she ever had glassed. My snowgoose took forever to build and it is almost perfect in my eye (I'll happily list the imperfections). In taking forever to build, I took a lot of hours away from my wife and she carried me while I built it. I'll probably have that boat forever although I could have lost my wife a few years back. Time is precious and I owe it to her and the time she dedicated to me. Had I built those boats differently with the plan to throw them out at the end of their useful life, what would I have when they were gone? Surely I'll remember the sacrifices that others made to help me. For me, however, keeping the things around is an appropriate way to cherish the contribution of others as well as mine. I like hand built stuff, stuff that people worked to build. I like my stuff, I like it to do its job, I like it to look good and I like it because it is my stuff that I and others have worked hard for it. I don't and won't ever understand building something like a boat that carries you safely over cold water and away from your loved ones out of anything other than the best materials. Yes, I value my time, I value it a whole bunch and I value the time and effort of my loved ones. Cost of a few bucks of plywood is nothing compared to the time, I know that for sure.
T
Bob, I'm at a complete loss... your first example as an endorsement for fir plywood is a boat that failed and almost killed you.
The driver of the boat was responsible for the damage of the vessel. On that day the right move would have been to turn back at the ramp. Being gung ho and wanting to have a great hunt I pushed on. The ice was black 5\8 to 3\4 inch thick fresh water not salt.
I have repaired fiberglass boats damaged when they made a run in brackish salt water ice that was only 1\4 inch. I still use fiberglass to build and repair boats?
I should not run boats not made of welded aluminum in thick ice 3\4 of a mile. That is what I concluded,
The spec for a marsh boat is all we are looking at.
Not an Ice Breaker.
Knowing that I told you the history of the skiff at least twice, I included it for all to read so you would not have to for me. It gave good service many times. It failed twice. Once on the highway at 60 and once on water that was frozen. (It made many trips in the brackish ice that caused no damage) We all have limits.
I feel comfortable stating that I would have damaged many other boat choices that day if they were the one I used to make that same run.
I will and have used the wood material again to build boats.
I will not drive them thru thick ice with a big motor or flip them off trailers on the highway and expect them to last.
Bob
Some people only read what they want to read ! In the middle 70's a good friend was bringing his head boat from port jefferson to Patchogue LI. and ran into some one eighth inch window pane ice right outside of the river. In a few hundred feet he cut almost completely thru the five quarter clear fir planking. I ran out with my 16 ft ac fir ply garvey [my eel rig]which was glassed on the outside and brought him a gas emergency pump and broke ice in front of him till he got to our yard for an emergency haul and some emergency re-planking I guess if his boat was planked with bs1088 ocume this wouldnt have happened! Here are some pictures of two of my old garveys built out of the forbidden material the one at the dock was my eel dredge rig and the other one, my gently used raking boat. These boats were half inch sides and three quarter bottons we usually built these boats in our off time with lousy weather we didnt know about epoxy back then or 5200 either, but used big tubes of 3m pl 400 construction adhesive this stuff was incredible in its day and probably still viable today. Two layers of one and a half ounce mat on the outside set in polyester and winter ice was no obstacle until the boat just rode up on it without falling thru. For you Montauk boys, that sportfish next to my eel rig was the Akin familie's legendary 'NIKA" Now Im showing my age, ehough for now. Rich
Trying not to stir this pot anymore than it has already been stirred. There is an organization called the APA Engineered Wood Association I met them at their booth at the Ibex show ten years or so ago. Ibex is to the boat building industry what SEMA or PRI is to the auto industry. APA has an interesting web site and can clear up a lot of questions about the fittness of various plywoods manufactured by their members for certain applications. By the way in looking thru some of my old files I came across some specs on the ocume ply we buy. The BS? [BS as in BS1088] only seems to specify production standards and glue specifications doesnt say much about fitness for any given application.And I may add that it rates Ocume wood as a "non durable wood". Of course we knew this for years as, if you dont seal it up real good it will literally rot before your eyes! Think about the american stuff guys its a lot better than people will lead you to believe, and a lot less money. Rich