Cypress marine ply? | SouthernPaddler.com

Cypress marine ply?

FlaMike

Well-Known Member
Jun 20, 2007
624
2
Spring Hill, FL
www.ptponds.com
I have looked around and found cypress marine plywood, but only on sites selling direct from China. And I really do NOT want to buy it "by the cubic meter."

What about a marine grade cypress plywood? Is there some reason it wouldn't be suitable?

I'm thinking that it should be relatively inexpensive compared to Okume and a lot more rot-resistant as well. Is the "grow-back" cypress large enough to peel veneers for ply? Or is there some other reason it doesn't seem to be made in the US?

Inquiring minds (as well as me!) want to know.

Mike S.
Spring Hill, FL
 

seedtick

Well-Known Member
Jul 22, 2006
1,161
7
Denham Springs, LA
It takes a cypress tree 450 years to develop the natural oils that make it water and bug resistant. Since most everything standing was cut down a hundred or so years ago, there's not a lot of 450 year old cypress standing. Grow back is available but it is about as water resistant as plantation pine. There's a fellow from Pierre Part that had a couple of sheets of cypress plywood custom made for the bottom of his putt putt, but he says he'd never go the trouble and expense again.
 

loafer

Well-Known Member
Jan 4, 2011
48
0
Baton Rouge, LA
I bought some fascia boards of Chinese origin that were claimed to be cypress
but they sure didn't look like any cypress I had ever seen before
and the primer on them came off when rubbed with bare hands
LOAFER
 

FlaMike

Well-Known Member
Jun 20, 2007
624
2
Spring Hill, FL
www.ptponds.com
I wasn't seriously considering buying the Chinese import. Not by the pallet or individual sheets. I'd have to have a sample to play with first, even so, I simple do NOT trust them.

No, I was hoping that even the second growth cypress should make at least as good panel as fir marine ply. And that it would sell for about the same price. I thought it might be less prone to checking, too. I knew the rot resistance would not be anything like old-growth cypress, but still better than Okume. But I suppose I should have known that if it was a good idea, it would be on the market now. (At least, that's the way it used to work back when we had a market driven economy.)

Mike S.
Spring Hill, FL