There is a Masonite type product that is much more
water resistant that the "temperd" Masonite and has
one side coated with a solid white coating that
looks like it is applied after and initial pressing
and the whole thing looks like it is "baked together"
in an oven.

It's pretty darn light and the white coating is very
hard to damage. It resists scrapes with tools, abrasion
by mouldings being applied and the neat thing is the coating
is baked into the product on "3 sides" so you can
just glue the panels up on the wall or ceiling without
any moulding, and just rely on any good grade of white
sealant along the joint to make the surface water-resistant.

But... for a few cents per foot you can get the plastic
moulding that allows two sheets to fit together and
aligns all the surfaces ( I use much less sealant
here ) and there are not exposed sheet edges.
I think the moulding is made so that it can align
two sheets faces ( like an "H" moulding ) and you snap off
one leg of this moulding and it dows corners as
well. They may have changed all the tooling since
its been years since I used it.

I think Lowes (like Home Depot) used to carry it.

But maybe you can ask your nearest retailer or wholesale
lumber company about what they have available.

I used it, as did many home bath improvement crews
did, to make 3 wall shower compartments in lower
priced houses. I never got a call-back.

The product I'm describing is just shy of 1/8 " thick.
The sheets were 4 x 8 or 3 x 8 .
I think at that time they were 4-4.50 a sheet (10 years ago.)

Best of Luck.
Vince Caldeira in Austin


Jim and Becky wrote:
Home Depot has Duramine melamine in 3/4" sheets. I couldn't believe how
heavy it was.
I think I'm going with a 5/8" birch veneer plywood with a two part epoxy
paint over it. What do you think?
Is Okoume better than a birch veneer?


No one would ever use Melamine on a boat. It's heavy, has little
structural integrity and the surface is thin and easily damaged.

Having said that, someone will say they used it.

Formica is good, what you're looking at is molded fiberglass, which is
the best.