Marine Plywood. The complete list.

This is a list of all the marine plywood that we carry which have manufacturers marks which state that they are made to a marine ply specification. We carry marine plywood made to the Australian/New Zealand spec AS2272 and to the British Spec BS1088. The list starts with the 3mm thick marine ply and progresses to the 25mm plywood. Within each size it lists the best (and most expensive) ply first, progressing down to the least expensive ply last.

AS2272 is perhaps the toughest specification in the world and the plywood is just about the best that money can buy. It also is expensive. AS2272 being an Australian Standard has the law behind it, so marine ply to this spec quite frankly is good. AS2272 marine plywood has formal F strength ratings which can be relied upon.

BS1088 is a British Marine Plywood Specification, and it predates the Australian spec considerably. Much of the rest of the world manufactures and uses BS1088 marine ply, even though the BS1088 specification has no legal authority outside of the UK and the few other countries that have adopted it.

Many Asian mills produce what they call BS1088 Marine Ply, but which if looked at carefully, it really doesn't comply with BS1088. That said, most of their production is still very usable for many boat building tasks, especially if coated in epoxy and possibly fiberglass, and since it is a lot less expensive than the AS2272 plywood, it is worth a look.

We carry three grades of BS1088 plywood.
The best of these (and the most expensive) is the Gaboon. It is usually sourced from Asian and Chinese mills, and we see weight variations sheet to sheet which suggest the interior veneers might not be gaboon. The sheet sizes are 2500mm x 1220mm or 2440mm x 1220mm. Construction looks good, it appears to comply with BS1088.

Next is the Pink Marine Plywood. They are stamped BS1088, It does have a proper A bond, has face veneers of at 0.9mm thickness and it is an economical plywood which can do many of the needed jobs.  It is what we call a sweet spot, probably the best value for money.

Finally is the BS1088 Hardwood Marine Ply. A heavy plywood, its construction is good and from what we have seen so far, good compliance with BS1088.  It face veneers are usually a thin 0.6mm, and the total number of veneers in a oanel is often lower than really desireable.  We sometimes have to substuitute other, plywoods if we are unable to obtain supply, These will always be of equal or better quality.  This is our most economical marine plywood.

Here is a useful summary of plywood grades and specifications.

Here is some information about glue bond quality and how to check it.

We can ship plywood to anywhere in Australia, how-ever we STRONGLY RECOMMEND that you also buy 2 of the 3mm MDF Sheets to protect your plywood from damage whilst in transit. If your order weighs more than 30kg, please give some thought as to how it is going to be unloaded from the delivery truck.  Please note, the freight industry has introduced a number of charges for large size shipments or shipments going to residential addresses.  Our system gives an estimate, how-ever we will need to confirm this prior to shipment.