A question I'll be scolded for...

[Pura Vida]

It might be worth finding the book Gougeon Brothers on Boat Building.

[Drexel Engineer]

Hey Guys,

Where can I find the marine grade oak?or mahogany? The Depot Im guessing is a no go for these materials.

[Boracay]

Marine grade anything costs.
Marine grade timbers are available from specialist suppliers.
It is really your call as to whether they are necessary.
I made a couple of hatches recently from A grade ply and western red cedar glued together with 5:1 epoxy with cotton fibres. I saturated everything with lots of resin.
When I tallied up the price it would have come close to buying one of the lower grade commercial hatches.
It sounds like the boat is similar to :
CLIPPER MARINE 26 "Sunshine" $4,900
or
CLIPPER MARINE MK II 26 $6,000
I would suggest that the fore hatch really needs to be a commercial type lowline aluminium to go with the rest of the boat. There could well be a hatch available at a good price that is a bolt on fit.
The sliding hatch looks like it should be fibreglass, with the washboard plywood. The plywood washboard would be an easy fix, my choice would be to seal with epoxy resin then varnish with single pot UV polyurethane.

[Jentine]

Originally Posted by Ativa

I know nothing about wood, but as I was inside of the sauna at my boses house last night the thought came to me.. "Why don't I use cedar for my cabin soles?"
I am not sure if cedar would work or not but it sure smells and looks good

Be very careful with red cedar. A neighbor was installing red cedar in closets a few years ago and he sanded them. His wife found him, collapsed, in the closet and called 911. He had been rendered unconscious by the noxous fumes from the red cedar. Have you ever wondered why clothes are hung in red cedar closets. The fumes kill the bugs.

[SkiprJohn]

Aloha Drexel,
Stay away from Philippine mahogany. It is very inferior and not a real mahogany. The Central American mahoganies are very good with Honduran and Costa Rican being the very best.
Kind Regards,
JohnL

[Steve Rust]

My dirty little secret! I have used the cheap 1/4 inch luan ply from the "Depot" for two hatch covers on my daysailor and when I had to replace the delaminated "brow" above the aft facing window in the stern of my trimaran. Both of these were curved and it was easy to mold the thin ply using two layers for the daysailor and three for the tri. After the glue dries it holds the shape molded into it. I used western red cedar for the hatch frames for the daysailor. I then coated them with several coats of epoxy resin and then paint. It has been two years for the daysaior hatches and 10 years for the trimaran with no sign of deterioration. You can get away with the resin only coating on luan, mahagony, maybe birch, but not fir as I stated before. I should have posted this earlier but I had forgotten about it.

I do not know of any source of exterior oak ply and there is no reason to use it so shelve that idea. Mahagony ply that I have used comes from Europe. Years ago when I worked for my old company we had regular shipments of electronic equipment from a supplier in Europe. The larger units came bolted to a nice sheet of mahagony ply about 3x4 and I always grabbed every one of them. It was usually about 1/2 inch and made up of 8 veneers. Great stuff.

Western red cedar is not the same as the aromatic cedars used in cedar closets but the dust from it can still be irritating.

[Drexel Engineer]

Well I looked around online at marine paints, im SHOCKED. What is the most economical way to go about this. That is to say where can I get the cheapest stuff that will not just flake off in a year.

[Morgan Paul]

OK Drex. First let me say that I have been a painting contractor for 25 years. You don't have to paint your entire boat with marine paints. For example the hull on my fiberglass boat was painted with Benjamin Moore oil based porch and deck paint($25/gallon). In the cabin and especially in lockers I use Zinsser mold and mildew proof paint (water based latex acrylic) its made for very humid areas like bathrooms. The bottom should be painted with antifouling paint. Go cheaper than "Marine" but be sensible.

Paul

[Drexel Engineer]

Morgan,

That was good advice thank you. Will I be able to get a nice shine with the oil based paitn you speak of. For instance I am thinking of goign with a navy blue.

[Doghouse]

Here is an offer you "might not" be able to refuse.

You pay for shipping and give me rough cut measurements. I will give you persimmon (aka American ebony) to make one, and when you post the picture of it, I will do the same for the rest.


Though persimmon trees belong to the same genus as ebony trees, persimmon tree wood has a limited use in the manufacture of objects requiring hard wood. Persimmon wood is used for paneling in traditional Korean and Japanese furniture.
In North America, the lightly coloured, fine-grained wood of D. virginiana is used to manufacture billiard cues and shuttles (used in the textile industry). Persimmon wood was also heavily used in making the highest-quality heads of the golf clubs known as "woods", until the golf industry moved primarily to metal woods in the last years of the 20th century. Persimmon woods are still made, but in far lower numbers than in past decades. Like some other plants of the genus Diospyros, older persimmon heartwood is black or dark brown in color, in stark contrast to the sapwood and younger heartwood, which is pale in color.

[Morgan Paul]

Here is what is on my hull.
interior products

I have a dark blue color. Dark colors will make the inside of the boat much warmer, so keep that in mind when picking a color. Also, you might not have to paint the hull on your boat if the gel coat is OK.

[Drexel Engineer]

Hi DogHouse thanks a lot for the help. It will set me ahead on my restoratioon goals. I sent you a message so we can figure something out. Thanks again!

[hellosailor]

"Well I looked around online at marine paints, im SHOCKED."
Drexel, NOW you're a sailor.<G>

[Trim50]

As an engineer, rather than focus on what other type of wood will work, try spending some time looking for better priced teak. If you buy your Teak in the rough saw form from a lumber importer, the cost of the teak relative to its performance and beauty is easy to justify. If this is your first boat, why not start doing things the right way from the beginning and develop the skills for the many larger boats you will buy in the future.

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by Drexel Engineer

Well I looked around online at marine paints, im SHOCKED. What is the most economical way to go about this. That is to say where can I get the cheapest stuff that will not just flake off in a year.

On the interior you can use anything you want that sticks to the type of surface you are painting. The key to getting paint to stick is preparation, plus in places that are hidden using a paint that is designed to cover a few "sins" (albeit possibly at the expense of finish).....that porch paint sounds good.

For interior woodwork just use household paint. For interior GRP that is visible I would suggest leaving things as they are once cleaned. Although a cut and polish may help a bit.

Interior wise you do not need anything with the word "Marine" in the price tag.......for the reasons you have already discovered

Just to say that once you have spent time onboard a boat tidying up she will look a lot better..............partly because you just get used to living with things that are not 100%