Quote:
Originally Posted by beamishken
I know you want to make the replacement last but remember the boat is a limited life boat & will inevitably go the way most old sibs do & start with failing glue. Robbins elite is probably the best marine ply about but basic wbp well coated with a reasonable yacht varnish will last many years. Pointless spending excessive amounts of money to make the keel last longer than the boat. You could also probably make several replacements of wbp for the price of one from Robbins elite.
My pal owns a fleet of clinker built rowing boats on the river Wear & he builds the hulls with oak ribs & marine ply planking everything else is wbp. Ie anything below the waterline is robbins elite anything above water is wbp. The boats have roughly a 25-30 year lifespan they sit in the water from spring till winter then get a wash & a coat of yacht varnish over winter. He tried west system a few years ago on a couple of new builds & it shelled off with the uv & didnt overcoat very well, he went back to yacht varnish.
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My feelings exactly Ken, it's a SIB
![smilie](https://www.rib.net/forum/images/smilies/smile.gif)
and I think overspend and overkill could be very easily achieved, but no matter what ply is used it still needs protection. Hence my post, I've no experience of protecting ply in/on water and my belief was epoxy did the job well, but which epoxy?
20 years of constructing timber framed buildings has given me a good understanding of timber, ply, laminates and how to protect them above ground, and touch wood (see what I did there
![wink](https://www.rib.net/forum/images/smilies/wink.gif)
) not had a single failure.
If I do go down the route of epoxy, glass, flowcoat /gel it will be more for the experience of doing it. But, I think I will still be using good quality exterior EN636-3 ply.