Colorado Okoume Ply Buy

Who???

 

The Who are (were) a great rock band too but they arent Canadian of course...and were getting off thread...okay..my fault..now back to discussion of the pros and cons of okoume ply...

 

The okoume ply should be here in about a week. I'll let you kinow what it looks like. Actually, I have two sheets of okoume ply left over from my last order. I can use it for comparison. Noahs said they are using the same suppliers. I am going to sheath the hull in 6mm and then add a layer of 5mm cypress planking, covered by glass cloth and epoxy. Just finished fairing the structural frame today.

 

I thought the Inland Empire area of Southern California was the 11th province... at least during the cold months. I live near Hemet, and when the snowbirds are in season the traffic through town at least doubles.

 

The plywood has been received, and my only criticism is that the exterior plys are slightly thinner than the interior. Noah's specified that all the plys were of equal thickness before sanding, so it is no surprise that some of the surface ply is gone. The plywood is supposed to be A/B marine. Both sides look good enough that you have to look close to see any difference between the two surfaces. The edges show no hint of any voids. (I bought a sheet of 1/2" DF marine elsewhere which does have edge voids.) I was worried about corner damage during shipping, but it did not happen. The cardboard at the corners was torn open but qapparently the damage did not quite reach the plywood itself. I will not be doing any sanding of this plywood, so the thin exterior plys will not have any significant effect. I chose okoume because of its light weight and bending characteristics. I may have 3-4 sheets left when this project is over, but that will just get me started on the next project.

 

I have on occasion wondered why plywood manufacturers make the outermost ply the thinnest it seems when this is the area has is the most abrasion and puncture issues...and it always this thin outer layer that wants to peel up at the corners due to it's skinny nature...unless completely treated with aurethane, or resin,6 coats of paints..etc

 

Cost issues? The visible surface needs the best quality.

 

As Noah's noted it is probably the post-construction sanding that is responsible, and the plies all start off the same thickness. In the thinner plywoods that only have 3 veneers the face veneers are thinner in an ettempt to even out the strength with and across the face grain.

 

That makes sense Ancient...plus 1!

 

The new okoume plywood is performing well. I have been scarfing pieces together to provide the 19' overall length required. Today I temporarily bent a section around the forefoot of the hull which is where the most severe curves occur. Okoume definitely bends easier than fir or meranti. I will soak the plywood for that forefoot in a shallow basin of water for a couple hours and then clamp it in place for a few days to dry before I bond it in place. That should minimize the unrelieved tension in the wood.

A little delay coming up due to an out of town trip for the next couple weeks.

 

Sorry, I just had to breath. Pictures, Wayne, pictures . . . ! Based on my own efforts I'm guessing it's around 15 feet but what is it? Gasp . . .

 

Sorry, I thought that everyone had forgotten about the plywood by now. I hope to finish sheathing the entire hull tomorrow. The plywood from Noah's has performed excellently. I soaked the forefoot bottom panels and the topside tumblehome panels for two hours and then clamped them in place and let them dry. No de-lamination or other deficiencies found. I scarfed all panels with a 9/1 slope using a hand plane on stacked panels and found no problems with inconsistent layers or tear-out. Half of the scarfed joints were bonded on a jig and half were bonded on the hull frame itself (with a backing plate). The results were equally good.

I hope to have pictures soon. My wife is out of town (Seattle) with our digital camera right now. I posted pictures of the frame at developable-surface-boat-designs.blogspot.com . When you sheath the frame, it begins to look like a real boat. The result will be an 18 1/2' by 6' traditional runabout-type hull with a few changes. A transom engine mount is recessed about 10" into the stern, and will take a 60hp outboard. The foredeck is raised by 5" producing more freeboard forward than aft. Given the light weight of this WEST construction technique, I expect the resulting boat will do about 40 mph.

 

(we forget nothing when it comes to a boat getting built)

Wow, sounds like pretty light construction for all that power. I worried about using 6 mm for the bottom of a 10 ft sailboat . . . although it did not have all those frames.

Nice looking boat; that's a self-design I assume. Most of my boats are developable surface plywood builds so far although I have started to experiment with other methods.

Looking for ward to seeing the results!

 

Terry,
That 6mm plywood initial sheathing will have another 5 mm of cypress planking bonded to it, then a layer of fiberglass cloth to the outside and inside (bottom panels) both bonded by additional epoxy resin. Total thickness should be at least 1/2 inch. The 6mm ply simply conforms to the required curves while providing a foundation from which to build additional thickness. It will still be light, but much stronger.

Finished the initial sheathing today and will buy cypress wood on Monday.

"all those frames": Yes, the frames not only define the shape but provide a strong and ample skeleton. Not heavy pieces, but closely spaced. When it comes time to finish the deck and interior, most of the needed support will already be present.

"Nice looking boat": Thank you. I am getting excited about the potential to make it look nice. One big decision is how much of the hull should be painted versus varnished. Haven't made a final decision on the windshield design which must coordinate with a bimini top. I plan to finish the interior better than previous efforts; hire some upholstering to be done.

"a self design I assume": Most of my motivation comes from making an initial vision into reality. If the hull I wanted already existed, why build it? The results may not be the most beautiful boat on earth, but they have been satisfactory so far.

 

Sheathed hull

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