Wooden Boat People

By McKenzieDriftBoat.com

Okume vs Meranti

OK guys,

I cannot find Doug Fir locally but do have Meranti and Okume within half days drive (SLC). I am planning to build a Baker 17x54 from plans. I want to use oil inside and out. I plan to add a 1/4" shoe layer over the 3/8" hull, both without glass and epoxy, just oil. Think old school.

Should I use Okume or Meranti?

Am I crazy? Will it work?

You won't hurt my feelings...all thoughts/comments are appreciated.

Best,

Brent

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Mike Thomas on October 8, 2015 at 5:28pm

Fir is the cheapest plywood (cost wise) and has its own issues. Bugs will attack fir, but I used clear fir for my frames. Its pretty too, light in color, easy to work with. I really wanted mahogany plywood but couldnt get it, I had to use Okume (priced almost dbl of mahog.) as its all I could get. Its a very light wood, often used in wooden race boats. It is prone to rot if its not sealed good. I used lot of epoxy and glassed my outside. I`m sure it will outlast me, and it does have nice grain and rich color. For what you want to do, I would use the other, and I cant comment on that. (this has glass on it with epoxy, no final finish yet). You might also consider where and how the boat is used. I`m in Michigan with much milder rivers than out west.

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Permalink Reply by Jeremy Christensen on October 9, 2015 at 1:13pm

Okoume has beautiful veneers, but it's really expensive and the grain of the interior ply is really short, upon impact it explodes into a billion tiny pieces.

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Permalink Reply by Mike Thomas on October 11, 2015 at 11:06am

The Okume was priced around $90 a sheet (4x8) but I did get it for the price of the mahagony, around $60 or so a sheet since they were out of what I wanted. I found zero voids cutting it up and really, I`m not worried at all about it exploding if I hit something. I took a sledge hammer to a pc after reading this, its pretty darn tough. :)