Alternative Building Material for Expedition Rowboat - Fibre Cement Boards

• JP

  Jens-Ulrich Poppen

  2/6/25, 5:51 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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• CA

  Colin Angus

  2/6/25, 6:54 PM

  Hello Jens,

  Overall, I wouldn't recommend fiber cement boards, as I would assume the weight to strength (and simply weight alone) would be much higher than plywood.  If you absolutely can't find okoume, quality baltic birch would make a better alternative.

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• JP

  Jens-Ulrich Poppen

  2/6/25, 8:38 PM

  Hi Colin

  Thanks much for the feedback. That's very helpful indeed. I'll take a closer look at the availability of birch instead.

  Cheers

  Jens

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