Benifits of Marine grad plywood

Wildman · Jul 6, 2009

If I am going to epoxy/fiberglass in all my plywood, why do I need to spend $90 a sheet for marine grade plywood? Would the hardwood birch plywood at Lowes for $40 a sheet work just as well? After all, it is 100% covered in epoxy resin and fiberglass.

So is there a benefit to using the marine grade plywood?

russ010 · Jul 6, 2009

if you're planning on epoxy and all... why not just spend the $20-25 and just get exterior grade non-treated plywood... that's all you're going to need. I used 15/32" which is just a little more than 1/2" and it's serves me fine.

The marine plywood is a little more weather resistant, but if you epoxy and all, you won't need it

Wildman · Jul 6, 2009

That was my thought but my friend told me today that there is "voids" in normal ply and that marine is "non-void" laminates. I don't want to have to redo this build so if the extra money spent is worth it I don't mind spending the money. My thoughts were too that if it were sealed in epoxy and fiberglass then water has so chance to get to any wood.

TJBrown · Jul 6, 2009

If i have heard correctly, marine grade and exterior are pretty much the same except Marine doesnt have any voids in the layers. For decking and what not, everyone pretty much just uses exterior grade ply.

smoody · Jul 6, 2009

Marine grade ply is not "waterproof" and actually has NO water repelling characteristic. It is just simply more ply's with less void which in return gives you a stronger deck, when correctly waterproofed it will outlast all other in the marine environment. So if you plan to keep this boat the rest of your life, invest in the marine and epoxy it.

Good Luck

Benifits of Marine grad plywood

Help Support TinBoats.net:

Wildman

Active member

russ010

Well-known member

Wildman

Active member

TJBrown

Member

smoody

Well-known member

Similar threads

Latest posts

Benifits of Marine grad plywood

Help Support TinBoats.net:

Wildman

Active member

russ010

Well-known member

Wildman

Active member

TJBrown

Member

smoody

Well-known member

Similar threads

Latest posts

Join the conversation!

Join today and get all the highlights of this community direct to your inbox. It's FREE!