JEM Watercraft

Heya Jack,

My thoughts on thecheap stuff are this.

My skills as yet are not up up to a standard to justify spending over $100.00 per sheet on 'A' grade gaboon or hoop marine ply simply to turn it into a heap of sawdust.

As they improve however, and as I work towards aquiring those skills, so is the quality (and price) of my ply increasing. I hope to be to a standard fairly soon where I will be able to confidently take to a sheet of the good stuff and turn it into a thing of beauty but till then, I will persevere with the cheap stuff.

The only ply I have found with voids so far, has been the stuff labeled "okuome" at the local Bunnings hardware store. It was hideously expensive and compared to my cheap $13.00 per sheet blonde ply, the 'okuome' is utter rubbish. I bought a small piece for the decks of my pirogue and there is as much resin filling the voids in it as there is in covering it.

I am somewhat cynical whether this rubbish is the same okuome that you guys are talking about.

hairymick wrote:Heya Jack,
The only ply I have found with voids so far, has been the stuff labeled "okuome" at the local Bunnings hardware store. It was hideously expensive and compared to my cheap $13.00 per sheet blonde ply

Mick... Like you said ... My skills are not that good and this is why I spend $9.95 per sheet for the 4 X 8 1/8th inch plywood, plus I really enjoy the light weight boats I can make from it.
So far nothing over 40 pounds and normally around 32 pounds for a boat at 16 feet.

Give me some time and I will do a better job and have a lighter weight boat...........

Chuck.

Hi, Mick. Sounds like what they call Okoume there has little to no relationship to what is called Okoume here. Ours is AA grade, and solid all the way through. Costs about $35/ sheet two years ago, undoubtedly more now.

I use the good stuff because my skills aren't good enough to use the cheaper, wounded plywood. So, being the Ten Thumb Klutz that I am, I need all the help I can get.

Looks like we all have to do market research and use the most applicable wood we can get.

From what I understand ......what we call Gaboon is Okoume in USA. However, it does seem that the quality varies greatly. I've heard people swear BY Okoume/Gaboon, while others swear at IT because most of the stuff they dealt with was crap. But, those that swear AT it do say that once they find a good batch it is good stuff to build out of. Americans it seems, always have a fairly good batch since I don't hear much bad-talk about the wood.

As far as Hoop goes , I've heard that it is heavier but is more likely to be consistantly good. Listening to you guys and from other sources I've bounced from Gaboon/Okoume to Hoop to Pacific Maple/Meranti and back. I guess I'll have to just get on with it and get whatever and form my own opinions on each. I do hope to make more than 1 boat in my lifetime. But what Mick said makes a lot of sense to me about spending lots of money on Gaboon/Okoume only to have it end up as sawdust. The vote still hasn't cast for yet, but I'm leaning towards getting the cheaper stuff for my 1st project.

Cheers. Chuck

Mick and Dave wallace have some experience in the Aussie Market; I have none.