What should I do? Marine plywood in the rain

I bought a few sheets of grade AB 1/4" marine fir from a local lumber supplier. I had them on a trailer and it rained torrentially on my drive home. I have them laying flat in my basement with the dehumidifier running. I clamped them to a couple 2x4s to prevent them from curling too much.

What else should I do? Will these still be ok to use on my boat?

 

Since one of the defining characteristic of marine plywood is its resistance to moisture due to waterproof glues, you should be fine. Just give the sheets time to dry out and equalize the moisture...

What are you getting ready to do with them? We want a build thread (including pic's) when you get started....

 

If this is the worst they'll see you should consider yourself lucky. They'll be fine, though do let them dry out. Separate them and small box fan blowing across them will help too.

 

...and keep flipping them to dry them equally on both sides.

 

lay them down but ontop of plastic and you fillet them and tent over the top and place the dehumidifyer inside the tent on a medium setting . you will be amazed how much moisture will come out of the sheets !! a small blower fan inside the tent also to circulate the air if you have one

 

Yeah just sheet them over (if you have sheet) then make a tent (if you have a tent ) then just turn on a humidifier (if you got one).

If you have the supplies and fascilities of a fibre glass factory

Can he just stand them in the sun?

 

Get it dry !!!

De-humidityers are all about drying the air so the smaller amount of air the better and quicker it works . most people forget about the floor !! concrete will have lots moisture and also concrete walls . so plasitic first then batters then the ply and batterns between each sheet and keep the sheet up and away off the top sheet and seal it all withe the dehumidifyer inside !!.
just set it on medum to low is ok but the lowest setting for complete resin coating of glassing over . dryer the better , Keep it covered till you are ready to use it . You will notice the differance when you are working with it as well . dry wood behaves better !! .

 

If they do curl, you can build the boat using the curl to your advantage.

In cases where I thought the curl was too 'orrible to work with ( creating problems with measuring, cutting on the bench saw or router table etc ) I actually put some 6 oz cloth and epoxy on one side, and made sure the sheet was held perfectly flat while it cured.

You end up with a sheet that is absolutely flat, and precoated with epoxy - which is what the majority of plans require anyway. The bending ability usually isn't compromised all that much on all but the smallest of boats.

 

A sheet of plastic means he has to buy a whole roll or buy a tarpaulin. If he has neither thats more money. What If he doesnt have a dehumidifier,--I dont have one and never have had one!!!.

Buying one would be as much as the wood cost. Cheaper to just chuck it away and buy new.

We don't all have the facilities of a large boat yard

 

Drying with a dehumidifyer is all over there never twisted or warped sheets its usually dead flat like it was when it was made !.

 

10'x25' roll of 3.5 mil Visqueen at Home Depot: $9.98

He already has the dehumidifier; he said he has it running in the basement. Tenting the wood would be more efficient than trying to dehumidify the entire basement...If he didn't have a dehumidifier, he could set up the plastic tent outside in the sun, and feed air through it with a fan..... it would work better than just letting the wood set in ambient air.

Of course he should sticker the sheets, and probably flip them now and then.

 

Get a half dozen 5 gallon buckets and drill a few 1" holes in the in the bottom, cover the bottom with a circle of window screen material, then fill the bucket with road salt. Place this bucket over another and let the magic begin. Naturally, a fan and an enclosed environment helps expedite the process.

 

lay all the sheets out in the back yard on a warm day, hire a helicopter to hover over your yard for 20 minutes , turn sheets over and repeat process, 40 minuters and your ply will be like new, you can save money if you have a friend with a chopper.

 

Ok if we are going silly now---A 9.98 roll of plastic would have been put to better use to wrap the sheet during transportation. Or 2 new AA batteries for the radio and a weather forecast.

 

Or could have stayed in bed and watched tv ! a comedy about a guy getting his ply wood wet in the rain and trying to dry it with a hair dryer !!.