I found marine plywood!

Mama H Chicago

Mother of sailboats
Chicago is home, but I’m in Michigan this week taking care of my niece and nephew while parents are on business trips…. Lo and behold! I just picked up the two sheets of 1/4” marine plywood I have been trying to source locally with zero success, for months. This is to replace Red Rubber Duck, the 1950’s Sailfish’s deck. Saved myself around $600 in shipping costs!
Now to perfect the art of scarfing them together on plain old cheap plywood before I dare try doing it on my scarce mahogany.
AB44A32C-E675-44EA-898C-758FD0F7785C.jpeg4B9987E3-C441-4064-AE6E-7B61F627FBB4.jpeg4E6A0488-CAD5-45CC-81E2-19EB8F967C6F.jpeg
 

signal charlie

Well-Known Member
Staff member
1 inch is all that ALCORT did...as confirmed when we removed the deck and hull panels on our 1963 Sunfish CHIP. Youtubers are blabbing about a 12:1 scarf that is common for a constant angle scarf.
With a LAP JOINT, you'll have a nice straight seam showing.
With a scarf joint you'll get a ragged feather edge.

By the way that BS 1088 (British Standard) is very good marine ply, almost the best. 5 layers of ply vs 3 like you find on average fir ply. And much tighter grain that will not check. Suitable for a bright finish.
 

Mama H Chicago

Mother of sailboats
Aha! Now I understand why the joint is so odd looking! The original seam appears to wiggle all over the place. Mystery solved, and I really appreciate the knowledge before I hit my boards with a hand planer or worse. I feel more comfortable doing a lap joint.
 

LVW

Active Member
Somebody in your neighborhood should have a tablesaw or a router to make those cuts. Planing by hand is not efficient for this kind of cut.
 

LVW

Active Member
Try your woodwork with scraps first. With five plies in only a quarter-inch of plywood, the final finishing/faring of a lap joint can still wander. A quarter-inch of plywood, divided by five equals...um...um...only one millimeter! :eek:

Surely, there's a High School "wood shop" that can handle this cut at no expense for you.
 

Mama H Chicago

Mother of sailboats
Oh I’m definitely going to be trying this many times on scrap first! Great idea about a high school wood shop. My youngest goes to a very very well appointed school. Resources unlike anything I’ve ever seen. I’ll reach out to them too!
 

Top