Thread: Marine ply for how much?

This may be a case of cheap Pacific rim imports, mis-marked as a good quality sheet. This has been an on going problem for a number of years and each seller seems to have to learn this the hard way after purchasing some really attractively priced product at half the usual price. How can the Bunnies purchasing agent resist, a shipment of BS-1088 or BS-6566 marked plywood at half the usual price! What possibly could be wrong with that . . . my boss will be so proud of me . . .

In short, very carefully check these sheets for the obvious signs of crappy construction, then do a boil test on a piece of it to see if the adhesive is WPB.

Hi Titch,

What brand marine plywood is it? Made in Aus or overseas? Hoop or Gaboon ply?

regards,

AD

It has a Samling SPK stamp on it in a BS 1088 circle
Hardwood
That is all the detail I can see at bunnies

Google samling and here is their website:
samling.com - Samling Global Limited - Our Products > Plywood and Veneer

and more about the bs 1088 product with some pics

Marine Plywood - BS 1088 - Australian Wood Panels - Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide

Now all I need is a project to make from it so I can justify buying a sheet and boiling some of it up to see if it works.

BS1088 is now used by many importers as a Brand more than a standard. I find the ply comng out of China and Figi is notorious for it. Or it is ply a reputable importer has bought in and found there is portion of it that does not comply to the standard and have flogged it off cheap to get rid of it. Check out BoatCraftnsw.com.au for an update on Cheap supposed Marine Plywood problems. Good quality Marine Ply costs and the best is AS2772 Hoop Pine, but most people are unprepared to pay the price.

Originally Posted by titchtheclown

Had a shock - went into bunnies and they had 6mm Marine ply on the shelves for $44 and thicker marine ply for other similar cheap prices.
How can they do that when they sell 7mm CD crapriata ply for $29.95 How can they hope to sell the crapriata now? I do not understand.

Last time I asked there about ordering marine ply in, they quoted me double those prices and I cheerfully wasted my money on the useless crapriata which now leaks due to the voids I knew it probably had before I bought it. Now my cheap throw away boats won't be throw away any more and all my fun making odd little boats will be over because according to the BS standard the marine ply will last forever.

Never mind I will at least be able to rely on my substandard carpentry skills to make them disposable again.

Originally Posted by PAR

This may be a case of cheap Pacific rim imports, mis-marked as a good quality sheet. This has been an on going problem for a number of years and each seller seems to have to learn this the hard way after purchasing some really attractively priced product at half the usual price. How can the Bunnies purchasing agent resist, a shipment of BS-1088 or BS-6566 marked plywood at half the usual price! What possibly could be wrong with that . . . my boss will be so proud of me . . .

In short, very carefully check these sheets for the obvious signs of crappy construction, then do a boil test on a piece of it to see if the adhesive is WPB.

Titch,Yeah, boil it, generally Aus standard 2269 exterior in hoop pine will be heaps superior to SE Asian imported BS1088.I've found big never/dry bonds & voids, But of coarse you might be lucky... better to support the Aussie Standard 2269 & 2272?, the hoop pine will be way less "splitty" in the face veneers too. Regards from Jeff.

High quality Lloyd's Certified BS1088 gaboon is available in Australia - you just have to know where to look and be prepared to pay more than the poor quality ply that is being sold by many operators.

If you do buy BS1088 gaboon ply, ask your supplier for confirmation of standard compliance by a reputable third party certification company ( such as Lloyd's Register) and you should be right. Most re-sellers wouldn't have a clue if you asked them for this yet they are happy to charge premium prices for poor product.

Whilst AS2272 hoop marine is a really good product, many smaller hulls benefit from the lighter weight and more achievable hull shapes that gaboon allows.

regards,

AD

Originally Posted by bloggs1968

High quality Lloyd's Certified BS1088 gaboon is available in Australia - you just have to know where to look and be prepared to pay more than the poor quality ply that is being sold by many operators.

If you do buy BS1088 gaboon ply, ask your supplier for confirmation of standard compliance by a reputable third party certification company ( such as Lloyd's Register) and you should be right. Most re-sellers wouldn't have a clue if you asked them for this yet they are happy to charge premium prices for poor product.

Whilst AS2272 hoop marine is a really good product, many smaller hulls benefit from the lighter weight and more achievable hull shapes that gaboon allows.

regards,

AD

Thanks for the info, & for stocking & supporting quality materials. All the best in your business from Jeff.

Interestingly according to some threads the Samling company have some products on the Lloyds register.

Let me take their claims at face value though - the value of the face that is rather than the value they claim for it.
here is my conundrum - you get what you pay for and there are horses for courses.

If you build one of my designs I would recommend you stick to BC exterior ply or Luan door skin However this hardwood marine ply will do the job quite nicely for the price.

If you are going to build something where you paid more than $30 for the plans use the best plywood your money can buy. If the plans were free or you are making things up as you go along like I usually do, feel free to experiment but listen to advice.

I went out on the weekend and bought myself a sheet of the 6mm hardwood ply and was about to give up when I found the top 3 sheets all had easily identifiable voids in the mid plys seen at the edges. This is a no no. Marine ply should have no voids let alone visible voids in the edges. A little more hunting through the stack found only one other sheet out of about 20 had voids in the edges. Look before you buy and do what I and the people before me did and reject the sheets that look wrong.


The face grade was claimed to be AA which means both sides are supposed to be A grade where:
A stands for All good - minor blemishes only
B stands for beauty mate there are some features in the face but nothing structural
C stands for could be better and
D stands for either Don't go there girlfriend or Decorative.

I would rate most of the sheets I saw as A for the price but probably B if I was being tough

I have built a wacky lassie Wacky Lassie: an instant double paddle canoe to be built and used by kids from CD plywood and it leaks but never mind - I was learning and I had fun. BUT you get The benefit of learning from my mistake as it was relatively easy to find BC plywood which was actually cheaper than what I paid for the CD. Most puddle duck racers (from what I understand) are build from BC exterior pine or luan underlayment plywood (whatever that is) and a lot of them leak but as long as they don't leak too fast no-one gets hurt.

I have my sheet now and I am going to have fun making a roll your own mouse loosely based on the Gavin Atkin mouse boat and few ideas freely stolen from wherever I could find them, Hannu's boatyard and Duckworks magazine being among the chief offenders.

If this stuff turns out to fall apart I will whinge here long and loud - till then have fun and play nice.