My supply of Okoume ply (4 sheets of 1/16" 4'X2' and 4 sheets of 1/8" 4'X2') arrived about 2 hours ago. I've discovered some things about it that aren't making me very happy :angry: .
First, the 1/8" thick stuff pretty much weighs the same as Dumas' 1/8" mahagony ply that they like to use for their crossribs. The Okoume appears to be stronger but I really don't know. I pulled out about 10 pieces of Dumas 1/8" mahagony ply and did some math adding the square inches up to equal a 48"X24" piece of my Okoume. They were within 3 oz according to my kitchen scale. Not super accurate but close enough. So much for the "lighter wood" :angry: .
On rcboatmodler.com, I was advised to replace the Dumas 1/8"mahagony ply ribs with 1/16" aircraft ply. I thought that this 1/16" Okoume would be a great substitute. Wrong. Its very flimsy and flexible. I don't think that its going to be stiff enough to be used as crossribs. I can use it to sheet decks and maybe sides of boats (or even the bottoms of smaller boats) but I think that if I use it for ribs, the boat won't be very stiff and will probably twist easily. On a positive note, when I weighed the Dumas 1/16" aircraft ply vs a like amout of Okoume ply, the Okoume was lighter. I forgot the numbers but I think that it was about 15% lighter. It all helps.
After spending so much time thinking about buying wood, I feel that I spent too much money buying too much wood that won't work for what I want it for. I'm still going to have to buy yet more wood (1/16" aircraft ply) to do what I need to do to lighten up my 1/8 scale Dumas Miller American :angry: .
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