I’m new to the forum and am getting ready to tackle my first boat build. I have been studying the plans and talking with some people that have had wooden drift boats and I think I have decided to try and use plascore for the entire boat core material. Thoughts?

Anyways, that brings me to the reason I posted and I was hoping some people on here had some up to date information on acquiring the plascore. I came across a post on here from about 10 years ago now that had details on ordering plascore and pricing but I’m sure that may have changed by now and possibly someone here had additional current information.

Anywho, If someone in the Yellowstone region was interested in going in on an order, we could make that work to save shipping also. I’m just near the Ashton area on the Henry’s fork.

I'm in Pocatello and bought some about 18 months ago. I bought 5 sheets and it cost me about $100 a sheet shipped. I built a new boat using plascore for the bottom only.
I still have two and a half sheets in my barn that I would sell if you need it. My recommendation is that you use 1/4 ply for the sides. I thought about building an all plascore boat too, but for a fishing boat, which I assume you are building, plywood sides are a better choice.

If Henrysfork doesn't buy your plascore I might.
I'm in no hurry.

Just going to throw this out there. I built my boat out of all plascore. It will finally hit the river this year even thought it still has some things to be done. I learned I really don't care for fiberglass and epoxy work and so motivation to build has been tough as I'm more of a woodworker. Also if you don't have a temp controlled shop you may find you have limited time to work when the epoxy will flow well. Just some things to think about before committing to all plascore.
Josh

I agree with Blakejd, to some degree. I've been working with fiberglass for close to 40 years now. I'm now interested in using it as little as possible. Change is good. I like to go with the flow.

Framed wooden boats typically get glued together. That makes the bottom a liability. If glued to ribs and side panels it's not impossible to remove and replace. But it's a giant pain in the bottom.

I'm building all replaceable now--where everything bolts or screws down over a thick bead of Marine Silicone, like Dowsil 795. Dowsil works well for this because it has a long open time. I put a fiberglass bottom on the one I'm building now but it could have been plywood. If it's easily removed why not? Build with all plywood. Oil it don't paint. You can mop an oil mixture on twice a year. When stuff breaks or gets punctured or worn out replace it.

The key to an all wood plug-and-play boat is a massive chine strip providing ample screw purchase for both the bottom and the side panels. Make that chine strip a formed in place glue lam made out of white oak strips so it's 1" inch or even 1-1/4" inch thick and 3" inches tall.

I also like 3/8" side panels for no-fiberglass boats. For boats with a sharp bend like the Honky Dory 3/8" side panels can be hard to bend that much. Unless you wet the bend area first, by soaking that area with wet towels top and bottom. For maybe 48 hours. Then bending is easy. For most boats bending 3/8" does not require wetting. The HD does bend sharply. In one place up front.

How do you build a (removable) gluelam, in place, on a partially built boat? I've done it several times now. Four times I think. Visqueen is your friend. It's too long to describe here, at the end of a thread about something else. Perhaps I'll make a separate thread at some point. I'm willing to answer questions. For built in place glue lams white glue like Tightbond III sets up too quickly. So I use a slow set epoxy putty mixture. Slow resin from West or Raka for instance. You will need rags, visqueen and a box of disposable rubber gloves. And a bucket of denatured alcohol to clean up with (or Acetone).

Also, in hind sight if your decking the boat it might be worthwhile 1-2 sheets of already laminated plascore. Although they are an expense epoxy is not cheep on its own and time is valuable. Surfaces like internal bulkheads and the deck of the boat would be great uses for the prelaminated stuff.

re> decking
Decking could be Pre-laminatrd Plascore or 1/2" inch Meranti Hydrotech, which is what I'm using for the deck. For bulkheads I'm using cheap 3/8"inch rough sawn siding plywood caulked and screwed to cleats.

Rough sawn siding plywood is light as well as cheap. I put Miratech fascia board cleats on the fiberglass bottom with liquid nails, with clear vertical grain fir cleats attached to the plywood sides and then screwed and caulked the bulkheads in place. Now they're waterproof but movable, if I ever need to move them. I used liquid nails for the Miratech cleats because it too is removable. It sticks well but it's not permanent plastic the way epoxy is.

Miratech cleats (liquid nails) glued to fiberglass can be removed with a 2" chisel and a small 6 pound sledge at any time. Miratech is good on the inside bottom because it's mostly plastic and it does not soak up moisture.