Marine grade wood in the Phila area - The Hull Truth

MikeAstringer · 03-16-2009, 12:00 PM

I decided to redo the interior on our 2nd boat (19’ Searay bowrider). This past weekend I pulled off all of the interior pieces and found that the wood underneath was totally rotted. On many of the panels only the vinyl was holding the panels together and the wood was falling apart in my hands.
I was on my way to Home Deport on Sunday to buy plywood and someone cautioned me that I needed to buy marine grade wood or risk having the same problem again. Can anyone in the Phila area share where I should go to purchase marine grade wood?

Also, I saved the old panels to trace for the new panels. Will marine grade wood come in large sheets like plywood?
Thanks in advance!

yottyboy · 03-16-2009, 03:24 PM

Marine ply is overkill for this application. Regular old exterior grade is just fine. Both marine ply and regular exterior ply are assembled using the same glues, only difference is marine ply is guaranteed to be free of voids in the interior plies.

MikeAstringer · 03-19-2009, 08:29 AM

Bill, thank you. I spoke to another boating friend of mine this week who told me the same thing. He said use regular plywood and paint it before I mount it.

Thank you very much!