Thanks to all for the various experiences & opinions on starboard, & other hatch board options, much appreciated as I ponder what exactly to do. At this point I am leaning towards making the bottom board from starboard if I can get a suitable 'scrap' piece here locally. Then the upper two boards from some cabinet ply. There is no place around here I can get any marine ply so it's either using some good quality cabinet ply or waiting until I take a trip somewhere with marine ply available along the way. I've considered using 3/8" ply and glassing it fully, to stiffen, reduce likelihood of warpage, and add thickness. Current boards are 1/2" ply made by some previous owner and varnished only, top and middle board bowed fore/aft respectively leaving a gap between them into the cabin. cheers, John S. On 11/30/2017 01:41 PM, Keith R. Martin wrote:
Hi John,
If you have access to a router & table I would go for the 1/2 stuff as its clearly strong enough for the span and its a quick route for the sides.
Also the 1/2 material would allow you to create solid 1/4 thick overlapped mating interfaces on the board seams for better waterproofing ....
Just my 2 cents..
Keith
*Keith R. Martin, P.Eng.*
*Burnaby, B.C. CanadaSerenity M17 #353*
On 29 November 2017 at 20:51, John Schinnerer <john@eco-living.net> wrote:
Hi All,
Has anyone here used 3/8" starboard for companionway boards? Or worked with it for anything else? I'm just wondering if it's stiff enough for the span of those boards. I know 1/2" would be. Really need to replace my boards this off-season...would like something totally water/rot/warp proof for the bottom board at least.
Turns out the west coast transfer warehouse for King Plastics is about 20 minutes from here, in the north Medford industrial zone. Ironically they can't actually sell me full sheets, they'd have to refer me to a distributor - but they do custom cutting for McMasters-Carr and have a cut-offs ('scrap') pile, cash/check only, that changes week to week. So it's just a matter of waiting for the right leftovers...black or white only though, no fancy colors.
cheers, John S.
-- John Schinnerer - M.A., Whole Systems Design -------------------------------------------- - Eco-Living - Whole Systems Design Services People - Place - Learning - Integration john@eco-living.net - 510.982.1334 http://eco-living.net http://sociocracyconsulting.com
-- John Schinnerer - M.A., Whole Systems Design -------------------------------------------- - Eco-Living - Whole Systems Design Services People - Place - Learning - Integration john@eco-living.net - 510.982.1334 http://eco-living.net http://sociocracyconsulting.com