Marine Lumber in Florida

[richieboy300]

Ok... need some help. I'm in the process of starting to build an ASH. Does anyone have any good contacts in Florida to purchase lumber. Also, what has everyones choice lumber been? I have heard everything from Okume, Mahagony, Douglas Fir, Marine Grade Ply, etc...

Any Help would be appreciated.

Thanks
Rich

[johnsonm50]

Sitka spruce is often used for framing and okume the plywood. Sitka is strong light and flexible, it should be mast and spar grade. Okume ply is strong & light too but has a low durability rating so epoxy construction is recommended. Sepele ply makes for a good looking boat and holds up very well but for about the same strength is heavier. I would not use fir, its grain is laced with hard and soft making a smooth flat bottom almost unobtainable. Both okume and sepele have tight grain and will be very smooth finished. Most of the wood kneelers are okume

[G Stillwill]

I use Obeche for all the frames and stringers strong, light and easy to work with, Okume for the skins the lighter the color usually means the lighter the panel is for the same thickness. A boats for most drivers need to be light so keep that in mind while building it. My new AXSH boat weighs 74 pound with the hardware. Its made up of Obeche, Okume,Balsa,Foam,Carbon Fiber and Kevlar. Here is a place in Fl that carrys the plywood.

http://www.worldpanel.com/

[Bill Huson]

Wood is good . . .

I dearly love Sitka for framing stringers. Sitka has the highest strength to weight ratio of all the spruce/pine/fir wood specie. But Sitka is very expensive. You can find Sitka at shops that supply experimental/homebuilt aircraft hobbyists.

Obeche is my wood of choice (save them $$$) for framing stringers. Like George said, Obeche is easy to work and light. On ASH rigs I made Sitka stringers 1/2" x 5/8" with the 5/8" oriented in the direction of the load, and when I switched to Obeche I made all stringers 5/8" square, thus simplifying the cut & plane process as well as assembly - no need to check and see if you had the strip long side up.

Plywood = Okume. Comes in 3mm, 4mm, 5mm on up. Only part of an A hydro that needs thicker than 4mm is the cockpit sides and transom. I used 5mm for those and cored the transom with end grain balsa. Install 4mm bottom with the face grain crossways (athwartship). And I would laminate 6oz or 10oz fiberglass cloth on the inside surface of the last few feet of the bottom panel. Marine plywood (okume) should be available from a variety of sources in Florida.

[Dave M]

World Panel

Beware of World Panel, we have a branch here in MI I have used in the past to get the Okumme plywood. Quality is an issue. Make sure you ask where the batch was imported from, you want the stuff from Europe. Don't accept the other. It will delaminate on you. Best thing to do is go pick the wood up look it over, pick it up and if you hear a bunch os stress cracking going on when it is flexed, put it aside. They also do not carry the higher grade of Okumme. It is only 1088 grade. This grade is fine to use, but it can and does have knots in the structure. You can most likley work around these, but be sure to look over the pieces you get. For and ASH I would not use anything over 3mm for anything. For the bottom you can laminate some glass or carbon and make it strong and light. World Panel does not sell Obeechee, I tried to get them to find me some and buy like 500 board foot, but they couldn't locate it.

[richieboy300]

Thank you to all for your words of advice. If anyone else out there has any others.... keep them coming. I would of never thought that in Florida (boat capital) it would be this hard to find wood suitable for building boats. I will take all your advice and search out what they have to offer.

Looking forward to getting on the water!

Rich

[DougMc]

Ok... need some help. I'm in the process of starting to build an ASH. Does anyone have any good contacts in Florida to purchase lumber. Also, what has everyones choice lumber been? I have heard everything from Okume, Mahagony, Douglas Fir, Marine Grade Ply, etc...

Any Help would be appreciated.

Thanks
Rich

What design ASH are you building?

[DeanFHobart]

Call Tom Cronk

Rich,

Call Tom Cronk in Lakeland. He knows where to get wood in Florida.

Tom's number: 863-665-5449

Good Luck.

[richieboy300]

We are building a Fralick design.

Rich