Re: BS1088 Middle Ply

Posted by Mark Camp on Nov 30, 2004

I read the standard once but I will tell you from hazy memory because I don't feel like reading it again. It's like reading ISO 9000 documents.

I believe it HAS to be okoume through and through to be 1088. Golly, though, now that I think on it, I'm not sure ANY of the plies have to be okoume to make the spec, as long as the mfg. labels the species accurately. OK, so you don't trust my memory any more than my wife does (I forgot her birthday today, including our lunch date, until after I had eaten lunch). So how about this: they would not have any reason to use a different wood in the middle to save weight because okoume is already a light (specific gravity of .37, which is pretty good) strong wood. And yes there are lighter woods that are cheap (some of the spruces, red-cedar, and redwood would all fit that bill). But some of them make lousy veneer woods, not good enough for even the 1088 core spec. And clear Sitka Spruce is probably even more expensive than okoume. I priced some for the masts on the Sharpie, and found that I could save a bundle by switching to sterling silver.

Hm, I have found another subject about which I turn out to know virtually nothing, much to my amazement.

In Response to: BS1088 Middle Ply by Mac on Nov 30, 2004

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