Marine Plywood, Boat Cost - First Boat
Carmen
of materials. I was told that Marine Plywood costs ~100 bucks per 4X8 sheet
and epoxy resin about $80 per gallon.
Are there any substitutes? Can anybody help me with a suggestion on how to
avoid the costs?
Tom Anderson
Since it's your first boat, build with regular ACX unless you've got to
bend panels rather sharply where interior voids may cause a problem.
That should really save some money.
No real substitute for epoxy unless you build w/ "traditional"
methods....'pends on what boat you're building.
System 3 resin (and hardener) is currently running $46/gal. Don't forget
that you'll most likely need various fillers too.
Fiberglass cloth is rather expensive too.
Raka epoxy is cheaper but I haven't used it before.
Regards,
Tom A.
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Carmen
Tom Anderson <nc_n...@my-deja.com> wrote in message
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Dave Carnell
I don't know where you are located or what kind of boat you are planning to
build, but I built small boats before there was epoxy and used exterior plywood
with great success. At the moment I have a 16' skiff of ź" fir exterior plywood
that has lived in the water for 17 years and is doing fine.
Instead of epoxy consider using Weldwood plastic resin glue or construction
adhesive. Use butt blocks instead of fiberglass epoxy butt joints or
epoxy-glued scarphs. The ideal reference for this kind of boat building is
"Dynamite" Payson's "Instant Boats".
After all, seaworthy boats were built for thousands of years before epoxy was
invented.
You can get "Instant Boats" from: ($16.00 + $1.00 S&H)
Harold H. Payson & Co.
Pleasant Beach Rd.
South Thomaston, ME 04858
207-594-7587
Dave Carnell
Migchelsen
Plastic Resin, and the Luan for about $10 a board. If you can't find it, E-mail
me. Sheers ... and Chines Barend
Gary Zwissler
The key to buying cheaper is quantity. Although the downside is higher
initial cost and the need to store stuff you may not need for months. You
didn't mention what kind of boat you a building or what materials you were
quoting prices for, so a definitive answer is difficult. From my own
experience, the larger the boat, the greater the opportunity to save money
by buying in quantity. I couldn't take advantage of quantity discounts when
I built my 16' dory. But when I started building my 26' lobster boat
quantity made the difference. For example, when I bought 20 sheets of 1/2"
plywood the price dropped to over $50/sheet to $36/sheet. Similarly I buy
System Three resin 15 gallons at a time, which costs me about $39 per mixed
gallon. If you building a large enough boat, and can work it out to buy in
quantity, find suppliers that will give you the best deals. The most I've
paid for single sheets of 1/2" marine ply (doug fir) is $52 a sheet. If
your being quoted $100 per sheet, find another supplier. The $80 per
gallon of resin sounds like it must be West from a marine chandlery. That's
top dollar. Check out the other brands (I recommend System Three highly)
and their prices. I would caution you about substitutes. When it comes to
the total cost, your materials are just part of the equation. If possible,
don't spend your valuable time and energy working with marginal substitutes.
Use the above to figure out a way to buy good materials and reasonable
prices.
Gary Z.
Carmen <mala...@cotyinc.com> wrote in message
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John McCoy
>Ok, forgive my ignorance, but what is ACX?
Construction grade plywood, what you'd get from Home
Depot or the local lumberyard. There's four grades for
the quality of the outside layers of plywood, A thru D.
So ACX has one face which will look pretty decent (the
A side) and one which will look pretty ragged (the C
side). The X means the plywood is suitable for eXterior
use (i.e. the glue is more or less water resistant).
John
Top Gun
then 80 bucks a gallon. As to marine plywood, it can be had
for less than 100 bucks a sheet. I bought a 4x8 sheet of 1/4"
marine plywood for $39.00. This was A-C grade. Another
lumber yard here has A-A grade for $56 a sheet. Not sure
about other thickness plywood. You can buy the marine
plywood in longer lengths but the sheets I have seen are
just 8 foot sheets that have been scarfed at the factory.
Not only that, but the scarfs are 8 to 1, not the
reccommended 12 to 1 joint.
--
Top Gun