Question with composite wood

I am attempting to build a small rowboat to fit two people. This is my very first boat so all this is a little confusing for me . Im planning to build the frame for the boat using some plywood but is it possible to build the rest of the boat out of composite wood? I understand that it is permeable but maybe with some epoxy or something similar would it work?

 

I'm not sure what you mean by "composite wood" but if you are referring to the different types of pressed board or other manufactured sheets goods, often used in house siding, don't work.

Most of these types of materials are not self supporting and have little longitudinal strength, which is usually a big requirement for planking stock (depending on construction method).

Specifically, which product are you thinking about using for you boat and what plans have you to guide the construction process?

 

Im not sure about the specific name of the wood but I know they call it chipboard or composite wood. It is the wood in which they compress many pieces of chipped wood and hold it with an adhesive. The plans im using are based on the plan found here http://www.vintageprojects.com/boats/row-boat.pdf

 

wont work, does not hold screws, that is you bend your wood around, and the screws will pop out!!, also the glue will stick to the surface, but the suface will sheer off, basically fibre board, is crap, full stop, plus you wont save anything, reasonable ply costs little, Ply frames are ok, and can be (nested), so little waste here is a wee ply boat I built, rows like a rocket, bit tender but ok with a load

 

Nice looking little boat, LJ

 

Okay, now I know what you're talking about. The names of the individual products usually give you an idea what size "pieces" are used in the panel construction. Oriented Strand Board, Fiber Board, Wafer Board, Particle Board, etc. are indicative of these types of sheet goods.

These products are designed as house sheathing or a substrate. In these applications, they will be covered with Tyvek house wrap or polystyrene sheeting, then a facade is applied or other covering material, such as vinyl or aluminum siding, clapboard or other wood substitute (but weather stable for direct contact), stucco, brick, tile, Formica, etc. When used like this, their direct contact with the weather is very limited, so the type II adhesives used (only water resistant), will hold up (reasonably).

Anyone who has left a piece of this type of material in the weather can attest to what happens and it's not pretty. In other words, they are not suitable for the marine environment. If you've ever had a kitchen cabinet get water soaked from a leaking faucet, you've seen what happen to this stuff. It swells up and flakes to pieces.

Other draw backs to these types of materials are; weight and as I mentioned before (it's high resin to wood content makes it very heavy), insufficient (or nonexistent) Longitudinal strength, which is generally required in planking on a boat.

 

Thank you very much for your help PAR, the kitchen cabinet scenario happened to me not so long ago but I didnt know it was that materlial being used. Really helped and saved me tons of work and time (not to mention my life after I would have sailed the boat halfway down the pond and drown).

Lazeyjack, nice boat! when you say that ply frames can be "nested", what do you mean by that. And can you explain a little on how you built your boat, looking into building something like that.

 

phew, thsi will take some time
Ok I had a plan I pinched from Skenes book of design elements of something,
I drew the lines from offsets, full size and picked up the offsets from the lines, this is a boatbuilders art, but you can learn it OR you can put the measurements into carlson(I did this too) or freeship, I would advise download freeship first, it IS free, when you get into freeship, put your length in(use metrics, ) and there is a tool in there that will develope the sides, bottom for you, with measurement upon them,
nesting is when one drawn frame fits inside another drawn frame, or component, on a sheet of ply or aluminium
if you download freeship I will try send the rowing dory to you
www.downloads.com, search for freeship

 

Ok I downloaded the program and thanks a lot for your help.

BTW, by nesting do you mean when they overlap sheets of wood to make a small boat?

 

no, it just means, you can draw one frame, and then the next inside it and so on before cutting, so a piece of ply , may be covered with many componants, frames, brackets , a stem, a seat(thwart) and so on, so as to not waste material

 

Oh ok I understand now. Can you send me the plans to your boat?

 

they are just lines and offsets, I will try scan, here I will try do it in freeship, but in freeship, open file
new
type in length
6
3
then hold down shift key, then click on fore and aft grey lines, they should turn yellow
then
view edge
crese,
now you have chine boat
now drag the controls to where you want em, and I am a very basic CAD user, and can only take you so far)

 

sorry 6 and 4
here you are, now narrow the beam and pull the transom in, have fun