Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Plywood vs Planks for hull material ;-)

[David Buchner <buchner@wcta.net>]

How about that Subject line for attention-getting?

On Tuesday, Jan 7, 2003, at 13:38 US/Central, Michael B Holt wrote:

> Yeah, that's 5/4.   I have nightmares about the cost of it.

I wanted to ask about doors anyway, so I talked to Katie at the mill 
yesterday, and got a figure of $671 for that much 5/4. I think she 
figured it with all 16-footers, but I didn't want to use up any more of 
her time, so I didn't correct her on that. What with it getting 
submerged, one might want it kiln dried (I think so there's less 
shrinkage later??), which would add around $100.
That's for clear pine. I think she was also figuring from 1X10's; I'm 
sure it would be extra to plane off another inch to get your 9 inches.

So figure about $800?

>> Have you thought of buying a portable mill for the project, and then
>> reselling it when you're done?
>
> No, but I don't have room for it if I'd thought of it.

Too bad you don't live closer. I have a friend who has one in his yard. 
:-)

>> Does it really, absolutely critically, need to be all that smooth?
>> What  if you just used rough-sawn stuff and attacked it with a sander?
>
> I suppose it needs to be smooth enough to avoid any big
> splinters.   Someone would make a fortune off sandpaper
> for the project.

We built the whole timber framework of our house out of rough-sawn, and 
took off the big fuzzy splintery parts with a large belt sander, and 
then a little random-orbit one. 50-odd 6X8 posts, 40-ish 2X12's, plus a 
big stack of 3X8 rafters. It really wasn't all that bad. Especially if 
your planks came out of a bandsaw mill -- there'd be a lot less fuzz to 
start with.

> Well, yeah ....   Plywood will bend a bit better than a one-inch chunk 
> of
> pine.

Holy geez, there's bending involved? I've never seen a picture of this 
thing; I guess I was just imagining a big ugly box. Er, I mean a big 
beautiful vintage box.

>> I've been imagining this with the two layers of planks going in
>> opposite directions, for more strength. Do I have that right?
>
> I don't know what Lake did.  I assume he thought of that, but he
> might have had them overlapping and braced internally.   No one
> seems to know anything at all about the interior of Junior.

Depending on how extreme is this curvature you're talking about, it 
could have just been to make it easier to bend (1" vs. 2").

>> Did you already post a picture?
>
> Not of my idea, but photos are at Jeff Lake's  website:
> http://www.simonlake.com

Not working, yesterday or this morning.


David
buchner@wcta.net
Osage, MN, USA
http://customer.wcta.net/buchner