Any boat builders/restorers out there?

[Student]

I have a recollection that, amongst our number, we have a few engaged in boat building or restoration. As such, I’m after their advice.

My son is doing a refit of the 20 year old yacht that he bought earlier this summer. As part of this he is trying to source American Cherry veneered Marine plywood. Robbins, near us, do a wide range of general and marine ply but not what he is looking for. I’ve checked out other possibilities like Timbmet and Lathams but they don’t seem to offer anything in that line. Can anyone point me in the direction of other suppliers of marine ply?

Thanks.

 

[Beau]

Robbins used to be about as good as you could get. Cherry on marine ply seems an odd choice though. My understanding or proper marine ply is it's made of boil proof glues and uses durable veneers all the way through. I dont think cherry is classed as durable.

 

[Beau]

Mind you cabin sole's are often teak with holly inlay so maybe my argument does not stand haha

Edit.
Reading through Robbins price lists I see this on page 9 http://www.robbins.co.uk/pdf/marine_pricelist.pdf "we can veneer any type of board with any type
of species! - please ask us for a quote! "

 

[Keith 66]

There used to be a goodly choice of suppliers but the market has shrunk so much that Robbins is about the only main supplier left who will supply small quantities.
Timbmet took over Silvermans & now have a minimum order policy of 10 sheets so they are not worth using unless you have a big project.
Beware far eastern ply marine or exterior ply as it is often marked BS1088 when in fact it is "stuck" together with wallpaper paste or worse.
I did a deck on a sailing dinghy last year & the price for Robbins tiger striped sapele was eye wateringto the point that the job was unviable. So i bought the plain marine from them & had a friend at a local joinery company veneer it in their press with some nice sapele!

 

[user22161]

Meyers do an American cherry flexible veneer in large sheets if you're up to veneering some ply yourselves.

https://meyertimber.com/products/commod ... eer/veneer

 

[worn thumbs]

Bruynzeel used to be the gold standard of marine ply suppliers,so much so that they gave a ten year guarantee.I wonder if it might be worth giving them a call.Until their sad demise a year or two ago Wycombe Panels were very prominent in the market for interior furniture and would veneer whatever type of face material you liked.Somebody must have stepped into the gap.

 

[user22161]

Not surprising marine ply is hard to find, there's not as much demand these days. Boat building methods have changed, much internal cabinet joinery on modern production boats is MRMDF and good quality plywood (not marine grade) is often adequate for internal bulkheads as long as the edges are well sealed with epoxy.

 

[E-wan]

Have you tried

http://www.fyneboatkits.co.uk/

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

 

[Student]

Thanks to all for their advice. I've passed on all the information to my son and it's up to him what he does next. Last time we swapped e-mails, he seemed to be thinking in terms of using good quality general ply as it's for internal use.

 

[user22161]

For internal use, decent ply should be fine - if he can find some, much of the merchants standard stuff has lots of voids. Best to seal cut edges with slow setting epoxy but warm it to make it runnier so it soaks well in.