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This post is part of Plyco’s guide to Marine Plywood
Marine Plywood is specifically manufactured to thrive in water. It’s little surprise then, that with the engineering required to create these boards there are a number of interesting and important properties in each sheet. Many of these properties are practically invisible to the average person’s eye, so to help everyone understand just how much is packed into every Marine Plywood sheet we’ve put together an explanation of the top Marine Plywood properties.
Good Things Come in Threes
The three most important properties of any credible sheet of Marine Plywood are the correct glue, the absence of core gabs, and the face/veneer used with the board. Let’s start at the top with the glue. Marine Plywood is designed to handle water with aplomb, but to do this it needs the proper glue. Regular glues used in other forms of plywood, like a Premium Birch Plywood, have high quality glue but they aren’t waterproof. A regular glue being submerged in water is going to weaken and warp the plywood board, comprising the integrity of the watercraft. To counteract this, certified Marine Plywood sheets only use waterproof glue. These glues undergo stringent testing to make sure they’re perfect when it comes to performing.
Plyco's Hoop Pine AA Marine Plywood
Next up we have the absence of core gaps, which just might be even more important than a waterproof glue. Having the right glue is all well and good, but if your sheets have core gaps it’s definitely not going to save you; such gaps allow water to sneak up and seep inside of the board. If water manages to get into your board you’re in a bit of strife, as it will result in the plywood swelling up, de-laminating, warping, and most likely compromising the structural integrity of what you’re building.
The third of the most important properties in a great piece of Marine Ply is the face and veneer. To have a quality Marine Grade Plywood you need to have a quality face and veneer. At the top of the range, you’ll find products like our Hoop Pine AA Marine Plywood, which has an A-Grade face on the front AND back meaning it is the go-to option if you want to cover all your bases. You can also find products with B-Grade faces, like Pacific Maple Marine Plywood.
King of the High Seas
Another standout property you’ll find in Marine Plywood is just how easily it handles being in the water, particularly when used for boat building. When a boat travels through water it comes under impact from plate action as well as any floating debris. To combat this, Marine Plywood is specifically designed to withstand and absorb these forces without losing any of its quality. Our Marine Ply is able to easily handle these conditions thanks to it being the closest plywood to solid wood, and actually goes one better as solid wood has defects that need to be graded out, while Marine Ply doesn’t.
Fungal Fighter
Closely related to the three key properties we mentioned earlier, sheets of Marine Plywood are superstars at fighting off fungal attacks. Moisture and water can be a breeding ground for fungal attacks to grow and take over your plywood. If you’re not careful this could actually destroy your plywood almost entirely. Obviously, as Marine Plywood is something that is designed to be around water constantly, it needs a way to protect itself from fungi. This plays back into having the highest quality face grade possible and not allowing water to tip-toe into the board’s inner workings.
These are just some of what we believe are the very best properties in our sheets of Marine Plywood here at Plyco. This isn't a comprehensive list of every single property though, because doing that would quite literally take us all day! If you’re eager to start your own Marine Plywood boat building or woodworking project you can head to Plyco’s online store to browse the entire range. If you’re looking to learn a little more, why not head over to our blog post to learn about the differences between Marine Plywood and Exterior Plywood?
