Re: Marine Plywood 101

Posted by Laszlo on Jun 28, 2006

Randy,

Not sure what that person meant, but epoxy resin, fiberglass and marine plywood are the perfect combination for homebuilt and luxury custom boats. When the materials are properly used, the boats end up very strong, stiff, durable and lightweight. The only reason that most commercially available boats are not built this way is the labor cost, but for homebuilt and luxury boats the labor doesn't count.

If your informant meant that the fiberglass will eventually separate from plywood, that's true if the glass is wet out with polyester resin. But if epoxy resin is used the bond is permanent.

Polyester resins do not bond well to anything except more polyester resin, and they allow water to slowly seep through. When that happens, the wood swells and the fiberglass will eventually peel away.

Epoxy resins stick to pretty much everything except some plastics and greases and oils. They are also waterproof. Boats built with epoxy have lasted for decades.

So if that person meant polyester resin when they were talking about the glues, they were right. But if you use epoxy resin instead (which all the CLC boats do), there's no problem.

Hope this helps,

Laszlo

In Response to: Re: Marine Plywood 101 by randy on Jun 27, 2006

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