Hi Robert,

Options of other materials are always good. I’ll always design in plywood because it is so accessible.

There is one Goat Island Skiff that was built in Foam Sandwich though – it does add significant labour. If someone wants to change the materials they are welcome to contact me. There are many poor alternative materials and only a few good ones. I can help narrow the choices.

There is a worldwide market for off-the-shelf composite sheets as that alternative is quite expensive in other countries. The Philippines with its clever but lower cost workforce is a good place to manufacture such products.

Best

I have loved stitch and glue (or tape up) with plywood. But the fact is that the plywood becomes more and more difficult to find where we (Michael and I) live, the Philippines. Good Santa Clara becomes more difficult to find every day. Tuffply seems to have vanished. It is easy to get “marine” plywood that upon close examination is full of serious voids and may quickly delaminate because of poor quality control over the glues and gluing process.

Plywood becomes less and less viable as a decent boat building material in the Philippines. My solution, not yet perfected, is to make composite panels that can be used like plywood. We, at Tropical Boats in the Philippines, are exploring a variety of natural fibers, bamboo, abaca, sisal combined with fiberglass, carbon and various resins to build panels that take the place of plywood in stitch and glue (or tape up) designs.

Robert La Quey