Another Question for wood workers

[Divecoz]

Cabinet grade Plywood for drawers?? Good, not good / in a boat?
I would / will be sealing everything with Marine grade clear finish. Should I also seal the wicker / cane center panel with the same finish?
I will be using Oak for the Doors and drawer fronts and hope to get a stain close to the phony wood that is already inside the M.
In your opinions should I choose the clear coat or the one that gives an amber tint ? I hope I begin somewhere along the line to enjoy this project.. So far building deck's swing-sets and the like are a LOT less stressful 1/16th" tolerance!!!!!!!!!! For the love! Does my Stanley 30' micrometer go down to 1/16th" ?

[eric3a]

..

[Hardcrab]

Ply will be ok unless you swamp her.
Of more importance is joinery technique and fitting.
Allow for expansion.
Why oak? Getting a smooth finish will require lots of work on this coarse-grained wood.
White oak would be somewhat better than red oak.
You may get the color and shading close to the factory, but the much different grain patterns will stand out like a neon sign. A more plain grained wood like birch or ash would end up a closer grain match, and not stand out as bad,IMHO.
It may be less work in the long run to replace the small amount of factory wood with your own stuff, and gain freedom of color choice. The down side doesn't equal the up side, again IMHO.

[Divecoz]

As I continue to look and read , it appears I can get planks of soft maple for a decent price. It cuts and shapes well as its harder than poplar and doesnt have the movement factor of poplar.
As was mentioned , if I am going thru all the time cost and trouble of this project, why not replace the window trims ?? That sounds like a good idea so my question is this? Patterns versus free hand cutting? What do you think? Is it worth the cost? Not that much to buy a 4x8 sheet of 3/8" to cut templates . I could then cut out the centers of all my doors drawers and tip outs for the cane/wicker inserts without the fear of ruining the Soft Maple faces, what do you guys think? I am thinking of buying a drill jig for doweling my door/drawer fronts for a strong joint. I can borrow a biscuit machine but it will be here and there when my buddy isn't using it .
Is doweling a good solution ?
Glue? Gorilla glue is supposed to be very water resistant. Is this a good choice or are there better ones. Once Christmas is over and a 2 week trip to see my Mom ( for her birthday)and brother down in Florida, this project begins.....

[ALX357]

Wood is beautiful, if done right. Traditional in boat interiors. I am a carpenter, and know how wood behaves when in a damp environment. Wood is a PITA, IMHO. That is why I will not put a single piece of wood inside the boat. Fortunately Mac has made a boat without any wood showing. The challenge for me is to find ways of warming up the interior with metal, plastic, and fabric.

[Divecoz]

Wood is beautiful, if done right. Traditional in boat interiors. I am a carpenter, and know how wood behaves when in a damp environment. Wood is a PITA, IMHO. That is why I will not put a single piece of wood inside the boat. Fortunately Mac has made a boat without any wood showing. The challenge for me is to find ways of warming up the interior with metal, plastic, and fabric.

Your killing ALX have you been talking to my brother??
He keeps telling me STARBOARD Fiberglass or Stainless Richard for the love its a boat ! If Columbus had a Fiberglass boat he would have discovered INDIA! Along the way

[ALX357]

Glad that you agree ... ... 'course, if you have a good HVAC system in your boat and keep it running 31/12, then have at it with the fine furniture.

[Divecoz]

Well as I have a little more times on my hands from now on, how ever long that is . .. Its going to be wood and if it cost me a little maintenance time with a beer or two in hand so be it. Found another book in my mailbox when we got home. Joinery and cabinet building

[Hardcrab]

Try to keep the amount of solid wood used to a minimum, and/or allow for expansion in the design, or your work will self-destruct over time.

If starting from scratch, consider cherry and cherry ply.
It is one of, if not the most stable of domestic hardwoods.
It's the wood of choice for precision mock-ups, engineering models, etc., due to it's ledgendary stability in humid conditions.

It finishes extremley well, either oil or poly, and is no slouch in the beauty department either.

It could be argued that the factory "wood" (plastic-faced plywood) somewhat resembles a darkened cherry.

We just toured the Beneteau (sp?) factory in SC. I know I shouldn't have been amazed, but seeing all of the interior wood work being nothing more than faced plywood was somehow disheartening.
Some of the corner pieces were solid so as to keep the ply edges from showing, keeping the construction simple and quick.

Truly, beauty is only 1/28" skin deep.

[waternwaves]

1/28 th??

a single ply??

even the admirals preferred favorite tissue paper is 2 ply...

[Hardcrab]

Waternwaves,

Usually, only the outer veneer on a typical domestic hardwood plywood is the "species" you bought. It can be had on one or both sides. The ply count is, of course, dependent on sheet thickness, among other things. (Baltic Birch Plywood comes to mind as an exception to the above).
With MDF core (the sawdust and glue stuff) or Plywood core (typically the pine/fir softwoods), the hardwood veneer is between 1/28" to 1/32" thick.
Hence my statement, "Beauty is only skin deep"

Don't sandpaper too much, you will quickly expose the ugly-a** core wood.

[Hardcrab]

Divecoz, IMHO's on your points:
1. Maple is a harder and less "changing" wood. But, it's still going to change because it's solid. Good finish helps, but doesn't stop it.

2. My style would be to remove each window trim, hopefully unharmed, trace shape onto working sheet stock, bandsaw or jigsaw slightly oversized, sand to final dims. Don't see where patterns would be all that beneficial. You are only doing one boat, right?
(Just a thought, can any traction/cool ideas be had if the trim was all one nicely finished piece with the correct cutouts for the windows???)

3. I always use a biscuit jointer. Quick, accurate and easy. You could have all of your pieces ready to go, and do a massive biscuit joint assualt in little time with the borrowed tool. Dowels aren't stronger, just harder to get really perfect, IMHO.

4. I have never used Gorilla glue, but I am under the impression that it should work fine. It would not bother me to use any of the "Yellow" glues if it was my project. They are water resistant, not proof, but unless you are planning to sink her, resistant is up to the task. Clamp all glue joints well.
Good Luck

[Divecoz]

Just about anything I could want in domestic and even exotic S4S dimensional lumber is available close by and most plywood is as well.
Plys come in full, half and quarter sheets. Needless to say the cost per sq.ft goes up for partial sheets.
I am also going to look and see what is available in "plastic " deck lumber, as I am being told, it too comes in assorted colors now and everything I can do with wood can be done with this new product (??)
Cost nothing to look I guess.
If I found something I liked in the plastic lumber I can as well get the Cane/wicker by the sheet in a plastic for my decorative / ventilating inserts.

[dennisneal]

If you're considering using plywood, I would recommend using marine-grade plywood. Its made using special laminate glues that resist rot and delamination in damp environments. It also has a solid core with no voids.

Marine plywood can be purchased with various veneer finishes, such as mahogany or teak. It should be dimensionally stabile. Its rather expensive.

Some of the newer glues are very water resitant.

One supplier in your area is Homestead Hardwoods in Vickery, Ohio.

[Divecoz]

THank You Dennis I will check with them and around here closer.
Owlhardwood.com carries marine plywood but no veneers $48 a sheet for 1/4". Looks like I could make the Faces out either Cherry or Maple and they would be rather. ... stable