Alternative building material for Expedition Rowboat - Fiber Cement Boards

• JP

  Jens-Ulrich Poppen

  2/6/25, 5:45 PM

  Dear all

  I am based in Trinidad in the West Indies and am planning to build the Expedition Rowboat from plans later this year. Unfortunately, the situation looks rather bleak as far as the availability of okoume plywood is concerned and I have therefore started to look into alternative building materials (other than birch, exterior ply etc.)

  In this regard, I was wondering if fiber cement boards would be a workable substitute for plywood. It appears that such boards are increasingly being used for boatbuilding projects which makes me curious if they could be a solutions for my supply woes.  Plus they are readily available on the island.

  Any thoughts or coments would be greatly appreciated.

  Jens

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• JN

  Jeff Noblet

  2/9/25, 11:53 PM

  Trinidad sounds like a dream location for boating. I used fiber cement siding on my shop in Northern California. It's great for that application (fireproof, rot proof) but I wouldn't want to try it on a boat. It's much denser than plywood so the boat would be much heavier than the same design made of plywood.  It's also very brittle but somewhat flexible. If you bend too far it will snap. The dust is unhealthy and it is very hard on tools. 
  
  I'm not an expert but I'd use fir plywood if marine plywood is unavailable. The boat I made is totally encapsulated. 

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