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Permalink Reply by Brad Dimock on June 25, 2011 at 8:56pm

Take a few scraps and soak them in a jar for a few weeks/months. Put another piece in the dishwasher for  a while...

 

Let us know how it goes... always looking for alternative affordable materials.

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Permalink Reply by Don Hanson on June 25, 2011 at 10:37pm

  That's a good idea.  Dishwasher.    I can tuck a little square away somewhere in there and if it holds for a week or two, the glue should be good enough, at least for an encapsulated build.

 

  I was hoping someone had built with this material already ...

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Permalink Reply by Don Hanson on June 26, 2011 at 3:18pm

  OK,

  Forget the Sure Ply.  It didn't take long to discover that it swells unevenly when immersed.  I stuck a sample into my grinder wheel cooling dip, zip tied to a second piece of Hydrotek meranti ply as a control.  In just one day, the Sureply got a bump in it, a swelling.  On closer examination, it looks like they manufactured it by simply overlapping the inner cores and then compressing it as they glued or something.  Anyhow, where the inner cores overlap, it swelled up, the cores went back to their normal thickness, making that overlap turn into a bump.  You can see it with your eye.  I measured the bump to be about .03"...  The general thickness seems to be about .222" and where the cores overlap has swelled to .256"    I just did a small 2"x2" scrap but it looks like the overlap core joint runs lengthwise down the sheet of Sureply.

    I'll let it soak some more...but one day!  Glad I didn't build a fancy smancy showboat out of that and have it go all wonky from rain or humidity.

  Good call, Brad.

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Permalink Reply by Brad Dimock on June 25, 2011 at 11:08pm

But of course, "encapsulation" or drift boats and river dories, is a bit mythical. You're always going to get water penetration, due to the many small hits, dings, scrapes, and rubs involved in rocky river boating. The water will get through. The system, formalized first, I think, by the Gougeon Brothers with WEST (Wood Epoxy Saturation Technique), was intended for deep water boats that never, ever touch a rock or gravel. And it got adapted to whitewater boats even though there is this one basic flaw. So the water does get in from water pressure below waterline, and can nevr find its way out again. And rot comes. That's one reason I really like the northwestern technique of merely oiling the boat interior so the inevitable moisture can evaporate eventually.

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Permalink Reply by Sandy Pittendrigh on June 26, 2011 at 12:08pm

........and another reason why so many people are (ditching plywood and) using honeycomb core now. Moisture penetration and migration isn't an issue. And it's easier to work with to boot. And substantially lighter too. I guess they're not wooden boats that way though. Just home made.

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