Plywood question???

H

Hunter

New member
Hi folks! My name is Hunter and I am new here. I'm getting ready to build a Duckhunter and have a couple of wood questions. First, what is the difference between Meranti 1088 and Meranti 6566? Supposedly the weight is the same.
Secondly, would the Meranti 6566 be suitable for the Duckhunter? I know Okoume is the best, but I don't want to be screwing up $150 pieces of wood on my first build, the old lady would kill me.

Thanks for the help guys,
Hunter
 
BS 1088 is marine grade classification; BS 6566 is exterior grade classification. As far as I know, the main difference is in the surface quality of the two plys. Both are supposed to be free of voids and use waterproof glue--and those are the primary considerations in boatbuilding. If you are planning to paint the boat, you might as well go with 6566. You might have more problems with surface checking on the unglassed sections of the boat, but that's just speculation.

The only difference between Meranti and Okume is appearance and weight. For a duckboat the appearance is irrelevant. Meranti is 20% heavier. But the raw wood weight is probably about half the weight of the finished boat (after adding glass, epoxy, screws, and fittings). So a boat made of Meranti might weigh about 10% more than one built with Okume.

Rick
 
www.edensaw.com is a good source for materials and info as well. I can't remember the difference, but it was significant enough to me, that I wouldn't ever use it... I just don't remember what it was.....
 
Probably the difference was that the 6566 standard allows for a big range in quality. If you are mail ordering the wood, you are taking a big chance because you don't know if what you are getting is on the high or low end of the standard. If you can look at it, you can sometimes find quality that is very close to 1088.
 
Ok... is the best because it's lightest - by about 20%. Meranti is the same quality and actually is more puncture resistant. After building my boat out of Meranti, I would do Ok the next time as I now understand why building a lighter boat is advantageous.

Re quality of wood - spend the extra $ and get the finest grade - piece of mind is a good thing.

Good luck and you came to the right place...
 
I wonder why lighter is better in a boat over 10 feet?!?! Would you be able to pick it up were it okoume, but not meranti?

From my perspective once you get beyond the smallest of sneakboxes weight is not an issue. The last two days I hunted I carred 3x as much lead anchors in my boat as the differance in weight between building from meranti vs. okoume. I also had water in it that was probably 3x the differance as well.

I'll take less expensive and stonger over more expensive and weaker.
 
Hunter,

I'm not half the boatbuilder/craftsman that most of these guys are on here, but I WIL tell you that you should not
purchase standard marine grade plywood. I did and I'm sorry for it. I've had to completely strip and re-do the entire deck of my Broadbill.

Buy the best and you won't be sorry.

Bradley
 
Hey CT Grinch,

Who said Meranti is structurally stronger? It is more puncture resistant, that's why I chose it. But it is 20% heavier.


Come on, don't you wish you had 100 lbs less in your boat every time you went out - the boat is still small enough where weight makes a performance difference and a manhandle difference.

Morton and I launched from the beach the other day and he had to help me straighten my boat out and get the stern off of the sand whereas he manhandled his cackler by himself no problem. When you're my age, you'll understand -- our boat is teaser sized - it's not small, but it's not huge either. A 17' TDB is so heavy that another 100 lbs doesn't matter.

If it were a sailboat or a displacement hull I'd agree your comments ; )

Best, A.
 
Thanks for the replies guys. WorldPanel.com is where I have been looking, but I will try to find a local place that has Okoume and Meranti. I definitely want to build one out of Okoume, but I don't want to be making rookie mistakes on such an expensive peice of wood. I am leaning toward the Meranti 1088 right now, but we'll see how it shakes out. Depending on how this build goes I might try building a scaled up version of the boat. If I do that I will be sure to use Okoume. Thanks again for the help guys...any other comments are welcome.

Thanks,
Hunter
 
Well, I looked locally and the only marine plywood I could find in Kansas City is "AB Fir". I assume that this will be pretty heavy. Does anyone know if fir plywood is any good? The salesman said it was great on both sides, but if it's too heavy its a moot point. Let me know what you think.

Thanks,
Hunter
 
Andrew,

I agree with you whole heartedly, except keeping weight down is just as important in sailboats as any other boat. There was a movement in the sailing market in the mis seventies where, super stout, very heavy cruising sailboats were the thing. Problem was they couldn't sail out of their own wake, were no fun to maneuver and a trip that would take 20 days in my Cal-33 would take 30-40 days assuming they had ample deisle on board to motor through the doldrums.

A well constructed Devlin built out of Okoumi is very strong. After the purchase of all else that is needed in building the boat and spending many, many hours our your own labor, I think the extra cost of the highest quality plywood is money well spent.
 
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Hunter ,

I built a cackler using Meranti and would absolutely recommened it to you to use on your project . Andrew and i purchased the wood from Maine hardwoods lumber in York Maine , Andrew found the company and i actually took a ride up to pickup some needed sheets due to not ordering enough , and i was impressed with the operation . You have to look at how you will hunt the boat and water conditions , i built my boat heavy with each joint with wood flour fillets and 32 ounces of biaxial tape on all the seams , now that is strong as hell , i have never had any concerns about building heavy , Up here in Ri. we motor through ice quite often and i know that with my "Heavy" boat i will be fine . Welcome, and let me tell you , you are in the right place if you want to build the ultimate hunting boat good luck !


Dave
 
You're right John, I live in RI, I should know that. The new racing sailboats are very light and light is the goal.

Dave, Charlie turned me on to the woodstore up in Maine - Charlie is the best "Value shopper" I know ...

Best, A>
 
Hunter- EdenSaw is much cheaper than World Panel (or at least was last spring) and freight will be less. I used okume for part of my honker, only because I could not get meranti 1088 in 5'x10' sheets. I would say the difference in weight vs dollars is a personal choice.... you going to see a significant difference in the end... the same goes for strength... Okume is more than strong enough...

Is the AB Fir, green treated marine plywood? If so, you are not talking about REAL marine plywood, and there will be many voids which will spell rot.
 
Thanks again guys. I figured the fir wouldn't be the best option. I'll check out EdenSaw and figure out what to do next.

Hunter

ps - Nice 'Peake Phil
 
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