Build Quality Descriptions

[minaret]

Originally Posted by 44'cruisingcat

Funny, but to me, plywood bulkheads means heavy and cheap construction. Mine are all cored biaxial and quadraxial glass laminates. Every one of them, even cabin dividers.

Guess it depends on what you're used to.

Agreed, this particular marketspeak is suggesting a cored composite panel, not ply. Better construction than ply for sure, as long as its not Balsa core that is. No point in having a stronger lighter panel if you've built it out of a sponge like material which rots as soon as you look at it funny.

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by minaret

Agreed, this particular marketspeak is suggesting a cored composite panel, not ply. Better construction than ply for sure, as long as its not Balsa core that is. No point in having a stronger lighter panel if you've built it out of a sponge like material which rots as soon as you look at it funny.

It might be - but my reading of that quote (and the website) is that it's probably plywood.

Albeit I base that view only on the fact that they did not mention any clever construction method or materials - that would seem an obvious thing to do. I certainly would re-draft the bit that suggests building a bulkhead from solid formica is an alternative building technique (albeit used by others - I'd like to see that!) .

Although not a naval architect I doubt whether the weight savings (over plywood) would be important on that size / design of vessel - not to say that could not be other advantages to using other materials, including if cheaper / quicker to build.

I personally would not be bothered about plywood bulkheads (and "furniture") - as long as done well (and that does not neccessarily mean heavy / overbuilt).....albeit for me the Saloon has way too much varnish work for my tastes (even though I do like a bit a of varnish work).

[minaret]

To me it would be quite disingenuous to call anything built solely from ply a "composite". Would you call a boat built from plywood and skinned with a 10 oz. cloth or two a "composite" build? I wouldn't, it's a wooden boat. Composite means it's composed of more than one building material. A cold-molded boat is composite, even a ply cored boat with heavy layup both sides is a composite. But a veneered ply bulkhead is not a "composite". It's just a wood bulkhead. IMHO, anyway.

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by minaret

To me it would be quite disingenuous to call anything built solely from ply a "composite". Would you call a boat built from plywood and skinned with a 10 oz. cloth or two a "composite" build? I wouldn't, it's a wooden boat. Composite means it's composed of more than one building material. A cold-molded boat is composite, even a ply cored boat with heavy layup both sides is a composite. But a veneered ply bulkhead is not a "composite". It's just a wood bulkhead. IMHO, anyway.

I agree with you - but others do disagree, just have a looksee on Yachtworld .

[minaret]

Originally Posted by David_Old_Jersey

I agree with you - but others do disagree, just have a looksee on Yachtworld .

Do they really disagree, or are they just trying to sell their boats using some marketspeak of their own? Composite boat sounds so much more appealing than plywood boat.

[hummingway]

Plywood is a composite but marketing does seem to have got in the habit of calling it solid wood, which I find misleading. It would be very unusual to find it made from one species of wood, the orientation of the grain is varied for strength and glue is a significant portion of it's composition. Marine teak plywood might cost the equivalent of $6 a board foot where as the real thing is going to be $30 a board foot.

[Cheechako]

Could be rigid balsa cored plywood or one of the new foam cored versions. Great stuff and far more rigid than plywood...

[perchance]

And just what is it that makes people think plywood is a poor material for bulkheads? They did after all build aircraft out of it during WWII. The Mosquito fighter bomber for one come to mind.

[44'cruisingcat]

Not neccesarily a poor material, but there are better. Materials science has moved on since the 1940's.

[CarlF]

Hard to generalize these days. Many options. Here's a "plywood" that's 38% lighter -

Goldcore Light: Super Lightweight, A-Grade Plywood. BS1088 Marine Plywood.

Carl

[zeehag]

rofl..at least it isnt the chopped pressed and formed alleged wood used in housing, despite the alleged strength of the glues.

[stevensuf]

I love the way marketing speak twists & changes things to make them sound far more exotic and glamorous than they are!

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by 44'cruisingcat

Not neccesarily a poor material, but there are better. Materials science has moved on since the 1940's.

And a lot of plywood is more dodgy these days than the 40's to 60's ply. Less good timber available I guess, it now takes some effort and more$$ to source high end ply.