Materials, part 1: Plywood

The Melanesia plans call for 2 sheets of marine-grade plywood.  Here in Colorado, marine ply is a mythical substance rarely seen.  I called around once a couple years ago and was quoted prices near $100 per 4x8 sheet!  So I was a bit nervous about what this item would do to the tight boatbuilding budget.

James discusses the issue in the building instructions at some length.  WBP ("weather and boil proof") ply can be used, but it's a gamble, as not all WBP ply is truly up to marine applications.  He then mentions that one of the better, more affordable options is  quality Douglas fir marine ply.  This sounds great for two reasons: first, because low cost is important to me, and second, because I would much rather use a relatively local wood.  As James points out, tropical hardwoods are being harvested faster than they can be regrown, and I'd rather not be a part of that.

I called our local "boutique" wood shop and found that they stock Meranti marine-grade ply at $55 per sheet.  That's great news, far cheaper than I expected!  I inquired about Doug fir marine ply, and they said it's a special order item but yes, they can get it, and it only costs $34 per sheet.  This news puts me over the moon - it's so rare that the cheapest and greenest options converge like that.

Sadly, it turns out that their supplier won't sell the Douglas fir for orders less than 100 sheets, and the local shop isn't willing to order that much of a low-demand product unless I'm buying it all.  Since I'm not interested in spending $3500 and the next several decades as a regional marine plywood distributor any more than they are, the Meranti ply appears to be my best local option. Unless....

I called every lumber store in the region - big chains and local shops alike, and got the same answer each time.  (They apparently all deal with the same supplier....)  "Yes, we can get it.  The minimum order is 100 sheets.   No, we will not stock 100 sheets of it so we can sell you 2 sheets."  An understandable response, but frustrating nonetheless.

I checked with some of the better-known online retailers of boatbuilding supplies, Noah's Marine of the Niagara Falls region, and Chesapeake Light Craft of Annapolis, MD.  Both had good prices on plywood - but both had shipping charge structures that made a small purchase like this financially prohibitive.  It was something like, "$99 shipping for the first one to ten sheets of plywood."  So a $70 purchase might cost $170 by the time it got to my doorstep.  It might make sense for large boats, but certainly not for my tiny Melanesia.

So it turns out, after several hours of phone calls and internet searches, that the best price on marine plywood is at my expensive local boutique lumber shop.  Who'd have thought it?  I'm disappointed that I couldn't purchase a North American ply, but I'm happy to be able to give my business to the local guys.  And they will probably be able to sell me local softwoods for the gunwale pieces, so it makes for one-stop, low-guilt shopping. 

Final plywood cost: $110 US.

Coming up in the next couple posts: epoxy options, and the ongoing search for found timber to make the spars, outrigger float and outrigger poles.