Looking for aluminum sheeting

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Hunt2871

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Evans Georgia
I finished restoring my nearly 40 year old Jon boat a little over a year ago and like an idiot I used BCX plywood from a big box store. I knew better but I could not source anything other than the nearly unusable plywood that is sold at such places. I painted it on both sides and all edges with 4 coats of epoxy paint and within 6 months of exposure to the sun and elements the paint is peeling and the plywood is delaminating. I am going to have to tear it all out and do it again and I think I am going with aluminum this time. I have restored this boat several times since new and each time the plywood has gotten more and more useless. I am 57 this month and I would kind of like for this to be the last time I do a complete restore of the dang thing. I have thought about marine grade plywood and polyester resin but it would be about as expensive as using aluminum and I don't think it would hold up as well. I have also thought about some of the composite materials like Divinycell but the costs are outlandish. Anyone have any ideas or any supplier of sheet aluminum in the SE US (with a couple of hundred miles of Augusta, Georgia preferably)>
 
Ask/check around, there may be an industrial salvage yard somewhere in the area that you can buy it from at a reasonable price.
If you know anyone who works at, or owns, a small business where they order metal fabricating materials, they may be able to order it in for you at a discount if they are willing to do so.
 
Years ago I got two 4 x 8 panels of 5052 aluminum alloy (that most tin hulls are made from) for $86 each from my closest metal supplier.

For coating plywood, poly resin absolutely is THE WORST CHOICE in the world, worse even than your ePaint attempt!

You should consider a true epoxy product like that from www.raka.com, where a half-gallon kit is $50 or less shipped, although I haven’t checked prices in a while. Simple 2 to 1 mix, resin to hardener.

Look at some of my transom re-do posts, as I’ve been using epoxy for ~30 years on boats now, the last 7 or so on tins too (plus most of them documented on here) and there isn’t 1 boat that has any issues!

NOTE any epoxy product needs to be painted as a topcoat to protect from sun/UV damage. I just use Rust-Oleum enamels or the Marpac or West Marine 1-part epoxy paints.
 
DaleH said:
Years ago I got two 4 x 8 panels of 5052 aluminum alloy (that most tin hulls are made from) for $86 each from my closest metal supplier.

For coating plywood, poly resin absolutely is THE WORST CHOICE in the world, worse even than your ePaint attempt!

You should consider a true epoxy product like that from www.raka.com, where a half-gallon kit is $50 or less shipped, although I haven’t checked prices in a while. Simple 2 to 1 mix, resin to hardener.

Look at some of my transom re-do posts, as I’ve been using epoxy for ~30 years on boats now, the last 7 or so on tins too (plus most of them documented on here) and there isn’t 1 boat that has any issues!

NOTE any epoxy product needs to be painted as a topcoat to protect from sun/UV damage. I just use Rust-Oleum enamels or the Marpac or West Marine 1-part epoxy paints.

Thank you! I have heard of Raka but figured it was like most epoxies and around $125 a gallon. It is currently around $60 for 3 quarts of resin and a quart of hardener. A gallon of polyester resin is around $45 but the difference in the end results and durability is well worth the $15 difference. SO how is the Raka epoxy so much less expensive than the West System or US Composites resin? I have read some other forums and it appears to be very similar to West products. Maybe just the name recogniton?

I am leaning toward using marine ply or a high end ABX fir if I can find any. This is just the deck so a few voids and surface blemishes ain't a big deal.

I used 1/2" BCX pine from one of the big boxes and it was bad from the beginning but it was all I could find at the time that wouldn't have to be shipped. I live on the east coast again now so there is some Meranti and Okouma available within a couple of hours of me. I doubt if I could buy a high quality ACX fir for what either would cost in my area. The plywood I used supposedly has exterior glue and the back side of it is still in good shape....the sun is what has destroyed it. I am considering going with a 4 mm Okoume epoxied (now LOL, not poyester) on all sides and edges and mechanically attaching it to the plywood in the boat now. I really do not look forward to tearing what is there now and doing it again with 9-12 mm marine ply at $180 - $220 a sheet.....4mm is less than $70 a sheet.

I will definitely use some epoxy paint to top coat the plywood if I go that route but I am going to put a sea dek type product down this time around. The floor gets too hot for my dog LOL......
 
overboard said:
Ask/check around, there may be an industrial salvage yard somewhere in the area that you can buy it from at a reasonable price.
If you know anyone who works at, or owns, a small business where they order metal fabricating materials, they may be able to order it in for you at a discount if they are willing to do so.


I hadn't though about the last suggestion but I do have a friend who owns a sheet metal fabrication shop LOL. I bet he knows where to get what I need for a "decent" price. Ima give him a call....about time to invite him dove shooting anyway!
 
Consider marine vinyl for decking, like Nautolex brand from Defender Marine in CT. That fully covered a plywood deck on a 25-year old Starcraft I had where that ply was NOT treated with any epoxy. And yet the wood was still integral with no soft spots and the vinyl still looked great after a power washing.

Sea Dek looks HORRIBLE not too many years later once dirty ... and it's a ***** to keep clean!
 
DaleH said:
Consider marine vinyl for decking, like Nautolex brand from Defender Marine in CT. That fully covered a plywood deck on a 25-year old Starcraft I had where that ply was NOT treated with any epoxy. And yet the wood was still integral with no soft spots and the vinyl still looked great after a power washing.

Sea Dek looks HORRIBLE not too many years later once dirty ... and it's a ***** to keep clean!


I can not stand any of the sea dek type material normally but the floor of my boat gets so hot that my dog hesitates to load up in the summer. It is, in my experience, slightly cooler than vinyl. I prefer nothing at all on the floor and deck but vinyl is a close second choice but it gets as hot as the painted plywood in the boat now. The foam stuff is nearly impossible to keep looking like anything other than garbage in a duck boat but my old dog hates the heat and she is about the only critter on earth I can count on to be in the boat with me anything I go LOL...
 

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