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I built my MiniCups from cheapo plywood bathroom underlayment and now I
regret it. Should have used marine ply. The underlayment has serious voids and places where there seems to be no glue. It isnt exactly waterproof either and water soaks right through. I am now glass and epoxy reinforcing them. The dinghy I built with marine ply seems very strong with no voids. Of course, it is also painted with epoxy. I would not willingly buy anything from China as their politics suck, I object to slave labor and support the self determination of Taiwan. Sorry about the political rant. Brian D wrote: When you say "China", I think "yeah, right". There is absolutely nothing guaranteed about Chinese quality. They can and will cheat whenever they can. They are still a communist country and are very difficult to deal with legally. I'm not just spouting off ...I work for a blue-chip high tech firm and we've had to chase down exactly these issues ...provision of products not meeting specifications or quality requirements, using substandard materials rather than what we asked for, not protecting intellectual property (confidential disclosures, nondisclosure agreements, patents, etc are not respected), and using Kopy Kat materials and products from Chinese companies that are illegally copying and violating the patents owned by western nations. Chasing things down legally is an expensive dead-end. Like I said, it's a big communist country that has little intention to be influenced by your concerns, even if they are ethically correct and the country WOULD benefit by cooperating with rather than ignoring your concerns. Taiwan is little better. That said, I would not trust the adhesives in plywood from China to always be correct. I would boil test a sample from every piece of plywood that I got and personally inspect the wood itself too. You might find variation in wood species in addition to variation in what adhesive they used. To a slightly lesser extent, these same issues apply to wood obtained from 3rd world countries like the Philippines and Malaysia too. Wood from Europe, Israel, Canada, or the United States will in general NOT have these issues, but keep in mind that much of the available wood (especially Meranti, Lauan, and Honduras or Philippine Mahogany) is imported from the countries that have more of a quality issue than others. Also, check your ply for squareness ...many of these other countries just don't have high enough quality control and non-rectangular plywood is common. Even the more reliable countries are getting more slack on producing nice rectangular wood. All wood should be encapsulated with epoxy to waterproof it, and any species that may be subject to splitting or checking would benefit from at least a light layer of fiberglass, even if only 1-1/2 ounces. Brian D "Danielle Anderson" wrote in message .. . Waterproffing is not the problem here. Pretty much ALL plywood is made with waterproof glue. Marine plywood is about the highest grade of plywood due to it's ridgid spec requirement. Most plywood contains numerous cracks, voids, and large knots in the interior laminations. Often they will be repaired on the outside layers only. Marine plywood has very few cracks, NO voids, and knots must be under 1/2 inch. Pay the extra money and only do the job once. Cut this cost corner at extreme risk of failure. Jon "Pop" wrote in message ... Has anyone used the 1/2 in. plywood from China, Home Depot has this but it is interior grade, colud it be used for boat building if it was completely sheathed in a waterproof material. |
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