Old plans and long plywood sheets.

[jacquesmm]

Many old boat plans for plywood require the use of plywood sheets longer than 8' (244 cm). Their BOM's show sheets that are 10 or 15' long.
That type of plywood does not exist anymore and even if it did, would cost a fortune to ship.
There is however an excellent replacement that does not cost more than any other marine plywood and does not cost more to ship.
It is the plywood sheets with puzzle joints sold by BoatBuilderCentral.com.
See a description here:
http://www.bateau2.com/howto/puzzle_joint.php



We sell standard plywood sheets with a puzzle joint on each side. The sheets are easy to assemble and once put together, you can use them to plank the boats built from the old plans.

[Cracker Larry]

Cool, I had talked with Joel about these a while back

The sheets are easy to assemble and once put together, you can use them to plank the boats built from the old plans.

Or even new plans

[jacquesmm]

Yes, new boats too.
We ship some of our kits with those puzzle joints since almost one year.
I was introduced to them 20 years ago by Steve, our 1st CNC subcontractor.
You need a precise CNC machine to make them tight: difference between a tight fit that "clicks" together and a loose one that falls apart is about 5 thousands of 1".
5.10e-3 " !!!

[Cracker Larry]

Gaps are good with epoxy Would that require a butt block behind the splice, or taping, or would glue alone be enough?

[jacquesmm]

There is still a sufficient gap in some parts of the curve of the puzzle.
I like to get them tight dry, that way you can handle the whole hull panel, move it around and guarantee a precise alignment.
We always coat them with resin, the resin penetrates the small gaps. It is then strong enough to plank the hull with it.
that is the way we did with the jetski boat.
Once on the boat, it gets covered with the usual layers of glass, no need for extra tape.
On very small boats like a kayak, who do not have glass all over, we usually add a layer of tape inside.

[Cracker Larry]

I like it

[pee wee]

There is however an excellent replacement that does not cost more than any other marine plywood and does not cost more to ship.
It is the plywood sheets with puzzle joints sold by BoatBuilderCentral.com.
See a description here:
http://www.bateau2.com/howto/puzzle_joint.php



We sell standard plywood sheets with a puzzle joint on each side. The sheets are easy to assemble and once put together, you can use them to plank the boats built from the old plans.

Am I to understand that even if one is just ordering plywood and not a boat kit, that as an option we can have the ends of the plywood sheets cut like this?

[jacquesmm]

Correct.
It is available since months but we never listed it.
You can buy plywood, full sheets, with the ends cut with a puzzle joint, one end male, one end female.
It cost a little more than standard plywood because we have to machine it but not much more.

[pee wee]

Sweet!

[peter-curacao]

I believe (not sure) I asked this before, but looking at the nesting drawings of my boat it's very tight nesting, probably with other plans this would be the same which off course is good, but then when using the "puzzle ply"it would give you a lot left over ply.
For example my bottom panels are on almost exactly 3 sheets of ply, when I want to apply the "puzzle ply" would mean I need 4 sheets of ply, therefore isn't it possible to only make female edges and connect those with figure 8 ply pieces so there won't be so much leftover ply? or wouldn't that be strong enough?