> Does anyone have any experience using 1/8" birch plywood instead of
> okoume in S&G kayaks?

> The birch is $32.00 per 4'x8' sheet to $76.00 for the okoume.

> Any comments/suggestions welcome.

> Thanks,

> Hank

To date I have built three boats from 1/8 interior birch plywood. The oldest boat is now 5 years old and looks terrific. When I started building kayaks I wanted to experiment without spending a lot of moeny. I figuered if I could cut the parts out and stitch it together correctly I would spend the money and epoxy it. If I really screwed up I'd start over and the wood wouldn't cost too much. I got it right on the first try.

The first boat has been stored in my garage and shows no sign of age. As my garage filled up with boats I'd built I was forced to store boats outside with custom covers. The Mill Creek I built a year or so ago is showing some checking on the epoxy/bright finished deck. I've moved it inside and It seems OK now.

The birch is nice to work with and very light. It may have have the same core as ocume. You can look through a stack of "door skins" and find some really spectacular grain. My Mill Creek is book matched down the center and looks like human faces .. or that's what people tell me.