The Uses Of Marine Plywood

By Author: Christian Ferrè
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Plywood is an engineered wood made of thin sheets of wood called plies. When the layers are glued together in right angles, they give strength to each other and this is how a plywood is made. An odd number of piles is mostly used because symmetry makes the plywood less prone to warping.
Almost all the furniture manufacturers use plywood instead of plain wood because of its enhanced resistance to warping, shrinkage, cracking and high strength. Moreover, the width of plywood is far wider than the tree from which is is made. This quality of plywood makes it ideal for many construction applications.
There are a large number of plywood including air craft plywood, softwood plywood, hardwood and more that find application in specific areas. One of the best quality plywood is Marine plywood, which is mostly used for making marine products like boat. The reason why an Okoume marine plywood (www.nordcompensati.com/en/compensati.html) or a Meranti marine plywood is used for making boats is because of its waterproof nature. Another reason is that the plywood can be glued to any surface.
Marine plywood is weather proof ...
... and proves to be highly reliable to be used in boats that are exposed to rigorous weather conditions.
The are different trees like Cedar, Cypress, Spruce, Australian Eucalyptus, Douglas Fir and Long Leaf Yellow Pine whose wood is used to produce Marine plywood. The wood from Cypress, Australian Eucalyptus, Douglas Fir and Long Leaf Yellow Pine is used for making Marine plywood for huge & heavy boats. Whereas, Cedar and Spruce is used for Marine plywood that is glued on lightweight & small boats.
Marine plywood is better than exterior grade and treated plywood. It has full layers of veneers that are glued together, while a treated plywood has voids in veneer layers and a regular glue is used to prevent it from decay. Moreover, a treated plywood is treated against insects but not rots.
Marine plywood is two or three times expensive than exterior grade plywood. Apart from this, what else differentiates a Marine plywood from an exterior grade is the absence of interior voids in it. Interior voids increases the atmospheric moisture that is already trapped in the wood and thus the plywood rots from inside within 10 or 20 years.
A marine plywood can be graded for its compliant with BS 1088, a British Standard for Marine plywood. Apart from this, there are few international standards for grading the plywood with most of them being voluntary. You will find some marine plywood in market with Lloyd's of London Stamp that makes it 1088 compliant. While some plywood will be available with the label of the manufacturer.
When you are buying a marine plywood, ask about the type of wood from which it is manufactured. Buyers should not forget about checking the compliance of the wood with laid standards, if they want it to last for decades.

A Marine Plywood expert from Nord Compensati has written this article. For more detail about Marine Plywood here.