Boat wood

[Steve B]

I am doing some cleaning up on my boat. It is an old beater, but I want it to look nicer. I want to select some wood that will last to make a couple of trays to sit fishing hardware, or to put in a hole for a drink holder.

The boat will be kept under a shade and a cover, and not left in the weather. Is there a wood that I can buy without going to a specialty store, say the oak at Home Depot? I need less than 4 board feet, and that is counting on using 1/2" thick materials. Of course, the sealer would be important. I have Varathane clear.

Thanks.

Steve

[Lew Hodgett]

RE: Subject

Hondouras Mahogany or plantation teak.

Anything else and your kidding yourself.

Lew

[dadiOH]

Keep it top coated and you can use anything you want to use. You won't find much beyond oak, poplar or birch at HD and the oak is red, not white.

Of course, teak is always nice and weathers well if you forget to top coat sometime. Mahogany too, including African and Philippine (meranti).

[Keith Nuttle]

I have found mahogany at Lowes. If you use Mahogany I would do a teak oil finish rather than varnish or something similar. The oil finishes need to be wiped on, at least once per year, but look nicer than varnish as the age. Varnishes crack oils do not.

[tiredofspam]

White oak is very rot resistant. I think cedar , mohogany, and teak are like wise.

What about marine grade ply?

My thinking on boats is epoxy finish then spar finish over epoxy. But then again, I have not built a boat.

[sal]

I have a 1950 cedar lapstrake front deck mahogany that I did with epoxy 2 coats and then spar varnish it sometimes sits uncovered for days it has stood up very well. Epoxy needs to be covered it will not take kindly to uv.

[EXT]

Which mahogany was it, most likely it was lauan mahogany, which has no resemblance to real mahogany except for a brownish-red color.

[Larry Blanchard]

I'd be tempted to use cedar. If you want 1/2" material look through the stacks of fence boards to find ones with enough clear pieces. They're about 5/8" thick in most cases, but after you plane down the cedar to smooth it (a thickness sander is best) you'll have about 1/2".

No matter which wood you wind up using, I'd seal all sides with SealCoat and then add U/V resistant poly.

[DanG]

Heart grade redwood. IPe. Azek and other man mades. Teak. Real mahogany. White oak (NOT red). Yellow pine. Western red cedar.

[skeez]

cypress?

skeez