wood on a sailboat

[trainmanjess]

hello all

i find myself in a pickle right now. i recently bought a Mac25 sailboat, and i have removed everything from inside it. it sat in the old owners backyard for over 3 yrs unattended, no maintenance done on it. the cabin doors are gone. the galley was a makeshift cabinette from a kitchen, and cut down to fit (not very good).. i am a woodworked by hobby and love it.. i am going ot rebuild all the wood, and such myself.. i am in need of advice on the proper type of wood to use on my sailboat.. in the repair and maintenance book i have been reading, it talks about using teek wood or mohagany, but my pockets arent't deep enough to afford those woods.. i am asking for advice to what kinds of woods you have used, or would recommend using? i am currently looking a the projects of new table for eating, new galley, head enclosier, storage cabinette, electronics mounting area, and stateroom wall and door. if anyone has done these before and can recommend the types of wood best used, i would appreciate it

thank you
Jess

 

[THECUSCUS]

I've used birch plywood with afew coats of poly-stain and have had no issues. Its important to seal the end grain good, so water doesn't get in and cause delamination. Teak & mahogany will last almost forever. How long will you be keeping this boat? Get her re-fit and get sailing, you can always upgrade later if needed.

 

[Merlin Clark]

I use exterior fir plywood and paint with an oil based exterior paint. If I were going to leave natual I'd do something like THECUSCUS.
For trim, sapele looks like teak and has good rot resistance at a fraction of the price of teak.

 

[sesmith]

White oak or cherry might be good choices that you might find decent deals on through a local sawmill,

 

[Joe Dunn]

I agree with the above posts but looking at it closer try to keep the plywood to the inside of the boat and try to use exterior or marine grade plywood for all wet locations. As already stated keep the plywood well treated especially on the ends/cuts. Red oak and white ash might be more afforadable options. Red Cedar is easy to shape but pricey. In the end mahogany or IPE are your best bet next to teak. Although the upfront cost is high, by the time you add up the cost of the finish and your labor time it will probably equal that of mahogany. The PVC trim boards are also useful and really do not require a finish but they stay cleaner with some type of paint.

 

[Griffinroydonald]

I use cabnet grade plywood for interior bulkheads and cover with indoor / outdoor carpet. This has held up well for several years.

 

[Close Call]

The hardwood floors in my house are locust and so are the fenceposts around my garden. I think it would be suitable for a lot of exterior woodwork such as hatchboards and maybe a cockpit table or boom gallows. Anyone have any thoughts about it?

 

[soldier1964]

Ive read on here before of one sailor who used marine grade plywood that he used a router on to mimic teak and then varnished them. was not pricey and looked really great. if I can find it I will put the link up.

 

[Merlin Clark]

Something to think about when exploring alternatives to conventional boat lumber is the hardness of the wood. This will really effect how it is worked, especially with lightweight tools like most of us would have available.
I came across some purple heart one time and I wanted to make a bowsprit for a boat I was building. I hauled it to a friends boat carpenter shop to be rough shaped and planed to the desired thickness. After struggling to shape it on his commercial band saw my friend tossed a scrap in a bucket of rain water and it sank!
Here is an interesting chart that shows hardness called the "Janka Scale". Teak is 1000 and Ipe is 3680, much harder than the purple heart I was trying to work at 2090.

Edit: http://www.findanyfloor.com/hardwood/JankaHardnessRatings.xhtml

 

[woodster]

that purple heart you had was full of silica sand and is very hard on planer knives and band saw blades as well and that is why it sank in the water......

i have an off fall of that wood that came off the construction site in Jamestown Va where they made a replica of the Susan Constant......the ribs were 11 inches thick and spaced 11 inches apart in the hull ...manley for ballast and structure....

regards

woody

 

[trainmanjess]

hello all

thanks for all your input.. i have considered it, and done some more reading myself in some of my woodworking books.. i believe i will use red cedar or red oak for all my wood needs on my sailboat.. i have a ready supply of both here locally.. the cedar will smell good and keep the bugs out, and look good inside or out of the boat.. i will get some marine varnish and make sure i put on several layers to seal it good..

again thanks for all the good input and help

sincerely
Jess

 

[centerline]

The hardwood floors in my house are locust and so are the fenceposts around my garden. I think it would be suitable for a lot of exterior woodwork such as hatchboards and maybe a cockpit table or boom gallows. Anyone have any thoughts about it?

locust is a good looking, long lasting wood for damp/wet areas where something extremely hard is needed, but its really too hard and heavy to be a an ideal wood for use on a boat when there are so many other good woods available that is easier to work with.
but it would work if you have the patience to tool it into the shape you want it...

 

[caguy]

If you are on a budget look for salvage wood. I made the exterior wood on the Mac 25 out of some Mahogany that was given to our school. We had so much of it there was no more room in storage for it. It was siting outside for a year before the wood shop teacher told me to help my self. After running it though the planer it looked like new. I used a clear gloss marine varnish on it.
The inside of the Luger is made of what looks like oak marine ply and painted ply. The trim pieces are teak. Many of the teak trim pieces like bull nose can be bought at marine salvage yards. In fact you can buy whole cabinetry from them. We are fortunate in having Minney's Yacht Surplus near by.The other thing I do is I always keep my eye open for discarded furniture. You'd be surprised what people throw out. If its good hardwood I'll throw it in the back of my truck and disassemble it when I get home.
Craigslist is another good source for good inexpensive hardwood. You will find that contractors will get rid of their left over stock when they've finished a job. Especially flooring guys.
If you are a cabinet maker and you use other than marine grade due to cost you may want to varnish the inside, out and edges to prevent warping.
The PO on the Luger used oak for the slide rains and they warped. I will replace with Mahogany.
For cheap teak I understand the Kabota tractors shipping on crates made of teak. I found one dealer about an hour from here that looks like he has a big pile of crates sitting behind the warehouse. I found that place using Google Earth. Haven't been there to see if it is teak, but it would make sense.
Good luck, from a cheap old bastard.
Frank

 

[chp]

I used a mairne plywood called Louro Vermelho BS1088 with an Okoume face. It is very strong and I was able to use 1/2 inch for my cabinets. I mixed some stains to get a colour I liked. It is like Mahogony. You can see where I used it on my profile page. Good luck.