Meranti plywood for a Birder 2

[edt]

I have purchased plans for a birder 2 (hull 55). Searching here in Montreal I can find Meranti plywood in the correct size. From what I read this product is about 20% heavier than okume and is a bit harder to bend. Has anyone built birders using Meranti? if so how

well did it work?

TIA,

Ed

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[Brent]

My last order of Okume came from Noah's which I am thinking is in Montreal or Ottawa. They have a good web page, which I cant find at the moment. They have good prices and their shipping service is one of the best I have dealt with.

Meranti will make the tight bends of a Birder more difficult, but doable. You might have to do some steaming and coaxing to get the ends together.

[Designer]

There are some tight curves in the Birder and your life will be a lot easier if you use Okume. The fact that Meranti is 20% heavier would get my attention with a boat that you carry all the time.

If you use Meranti I would recommend using hot water on the tight curves while you are folding the boat.

[edt]

Heavier is not good and having to steam or use hot water will make the job trickier. One would think that a city of 3 million would have several sources of marine plywood. So far I have found one... Noah's is in Toronto, six hours away. My parents live there - maybe I will visit some weekend soon. My dad also has a little wood shop. Ripping some of the other pieces would be much easier there.

Thanks for the feedback.

Ed

[edt]

Graham, is the Okoume you suggest 3 or 5 ply? Looking on the Noah's site I can see three

okume plys that would probably fit the bill:

bs6588 4mm (5/32) 3 ply 12lbs $48.75

bs1088 4mm (5/32) 3 ply 12lbs $58.40

bs1088 5mm (3/16) 5 ply 16lbs $74.50

The local meranti is:

bs1088 5mm (3/16) 3 ply 18lbs $47.00

What do you think?

Ed

[Designer]

It uses 3 ply. If you get to choose the wood, try to get even thickness veneers. Some cheaper ply's have a thicker center veneer which runs accross the bends and can make bending more difficult.

[edt]

Just recieved four sheets of 5/32 okoume. All three plys look to be the same thickness. Next step is to rearrange the garage to have room to transfer the drawings to the wood and to cut the ply.

I purchased from noah's as per suggestions here - they were a pleasure to deal with.

Has anyone here used Miapoxy? - I can get it or West system epoxy locally. The Miapoxy is about 20% less expensive.

<Grin>

Ed