|
Denman Marine - BS1088 Gaboon Marine Plywood
At Denman Marine we only use the best
products available in our boats. For us that means that when we use BS1088 Gaboon Marine Ply we use Joubert.
Joubert BS1088 Gaboon/Okoume Marine Plywood is a Gaboon
throughout plywood panel with selected cores and is manufactured in compliance with the British Marine Plywood Standard
BS1088-1:2003.
Lloyd’s Register Type Approved, this marine ply is recommended for nautical construction
and boat furnishings. It has a wonderful lightness and an excellent resistance to damp conditions (Class 3 gluing). It can
also be used for interior furnishings thanks to its ability to take a painted or clear finish.
It is
suitable for boat structures, for example for the making of hulls, often with the use of fibre glass and epoxy resin.
Besides using Joubert BS1088 Gaboon ply in the boats built here at Denman Marine
we also import large quantities for re-sale to both amateur and professional boat builders.
BS1088 Marine Plywood Sales and Pricing
Denman Marine is the sole Australian importer
and re-seller of Joubert plywood to both amateur and professional boat builders with the following sizes being stocked.
Prices are per sheet* and include GST;
4mm - $75 per sheet
6mm - $115
9mm - $135
12mm
- $180
15mm - $199
18mm - $220
25mm - $300
(* Note These prices are current as of December
2009 but are subject to change)
When comparing prices, be aware that our sheet sizes are larger than most at 2500
x 1220 which is 3.05 square metres compared to 2.88 square metres for a metric standard sheet of 2400 x 1200.
Also when comparing products be sure you are comparing apples with apples. Many of the imported plywoods in Australia
purport to be BS1088 compliant but they are definitely not. If the sheets are not marked in accordance with the standard
(see below) and your supplier cannot provide you with a certificate of compliance to the standard then you are paying a high
price for a product that really should not be going into a boat.
Freight to any mainland destination is very competitive
and becomes cheaper the larger the order- for example 10 sheets of 6mm ply delivered to Sydney is around $13 per sheet.
20 sheets of 6mm delivered to Sydney is around $7.00 per sheet and 40 sheets would be free delivery to Sydney. Sometimes
we are able to combine orders to the same destination to save on freight.
Every client is
provided with a copy of the Lloyds Register Certificate with their order and it can also be downloaded below.
Other Products available from Joubert
Denman Marine can also
supply other products from the Joubert range which include;
- Joubert super marine ply
- Gaboon plywood
in large sheet size 3100 x 1530
- Sapelle marine plywood
- custom thicknesses from 3-50mm
- a full range of
architectural panel products
Note that minimum order quantities apply for these products.
To view the
complete Joubert product range please click on the link below
The Joubert Product Range
Why you should purchase your BS1088 Marine ply from Denman
Marine
Unlike the majority of companies selling plywood,
our core business is wooden boat building and we know our products and materials. Like many of or clients we have also
been frustrated at the lack of availablity of high quality gaboon plywood in Australia.
Unlike many companies
in Australia that have continued to sell poor quality plywood at premium prices we decided to do something about it.
Every Joubert ply order is hand picked by a professional boat builder to suit your project. If you need advice on
what is needed for your boat please contact us to discuss your requirements.
Here are some comments from some of our clients who are building
boats with Joubert marine plywood suppied by Denman Marine;
Andrew,
The plywood has just arrived and is now in my workshop/garage. The quality looks magnificent and it arrived
very well packed. Many thanks - J. Hall, Launceston Tasmania
Hello Andrew,
I received the plywood
this morning in first class conditon. The packing was excellent and the ply was every bit as good as your description.
I can highly recommend your product and service. Thanks for your help.
Best regards,
J. Hunter - Victoria
Why is
Joubert Plywood the best available?
Joubert take the utmost care in the production
of their plywood products. The company is a third generation family owned company that takes pride in being one of Europe's
largest panel product producers. They have 2 plywood production mills in the South West of France and a veneer peeling
mill Gabon.
I have visited the Joubert mills in France and was very impressed with the attention to detail and
obvious care that was being taken in production.
Joubert ply carries a number of important classifications
that sets it apart from the cheaper ply on the market.
1. Lloyds Register
Type Approval
Our BS1088 marine ply carries Lloyds Register certification that it actually complies
to the current British Standard for marine ply manufacture - BS1088-1:2003 and BS1088-2:2003 and is suitable for marine
craft construction. To view a copy of the Lloyds certification click on the link below.
Joubert BS1088 Marine Ply Lloyds Register Type Approval Certificate 2009-2013
2. Envronmental
Certification
The Joubert BS1088 Marine Ply that we stock carries three environmental
certifications including FSC , PEFC and OLB. For further information on environmental certification of our ply go to the
link below.
Joubert plywood environmental certification
3. Low
Product Emmisions
Joubert Plywood are the first producer of Okoume Plywood to
obtain the
CARB* approval for formaldehyde compliance with :
ULEF – Ultra Low Emitting Formaldehyde - resins.
*California Environmental Protection Agency Air Resources Board
To read more about Joubert marine plywood
and CARB approval please click on the link below.
Joubert BS1088 Gaboon Marine Ply and CARB compliance
So if you would like further information on Joubert BS1088 Gaboon Marine Ply for
your project contact us . We are happy to provide a quote on request.
BS1088 Gaboon Marine Ply - General Information
Below is some information on
BS1088 plywood. It is important when buying timber for your project that you are informed about what you are purchasing
so you end up with the best products for your boat.
For those looking to build
a boat using marine plywood in Australia there are a number of options to choose from but not many in the lightweight category.
The choice of many boat builders for years has been a ply made from an African hardwoood called Okoume or Gaboon.
What
exactly is Gaboon marine ply?
Gaboon or Okoume (Aucoumea klaineana) is a
medium sized hardwood native to equatorial West Africa. Its major use is in the production of plywood.
In its plywood form it has been used extensively in boat building and is still used in the manufacture of lightweight
aircraft. Gaboon is one of the species that can be used to make lightweight marine ply under The British
Marine Plywood Standard BS1088-1:2003. Gaboon’s air dried density is around 430kg per cubic metre
as opposed to hoop pine which is around 530kg per cubic metre.
see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aucoumea_klaineana for further information on the species.
The best gaboon marine ply panels
used to be manufactured in Israel and France but with the way that most things in manufacturing have gone, much
if not all of the supply available in Australia comes from mills in China, Malaysia or other South East Asian countries.
The price the importers pay for this ply might be great from these places but the quality really lets the end user down.
Marine Ply Manufacturing Standards
Marine Plywood is manufactured to
an exacting standard to ensure it is fit for purpose. The ocean is not a forgiving place and sub standard materials
are quickly shown to be inadequate for the task.
There are two main marine ply standards that we see in
Australia namely AS/NZS 2272:2006 (The Australian and New Zealand Standard which our home grown Hoop Pine marine ply is made
to) and BS1088-1:2003 (The British standard which is read in conjunction with BS1088-2:2003 which is a standard used
for determining glue bond quality in BS1088 marine ply).
Both standards are similar and specify in detail the manufacturing
tolerances and allowable defects in ply sheets.
For example
|
BS1088-1:2003
|
AS/NZS 2272
|
|
Pin knots in face veneers - up to 6 per square metre
of panel surface
Pin knots
in core veneers - unlimited number
|
For Face veneers - Knots (sound intergrown)—not
exceeding 4 mm measured
across the grain and not
more than four per sheet.
For core veneers - sound knots - unlimited in number
|
BS1088 as a standard is really quite abused by manufacturers and re-sellers/importers alike. I
have seen so many sheets of so called BS1088 plywood which have not been manufactured anywhere near the requirements that
the standard specifies.
Some common defects seen are as follows;
Problem
Face veneers are not compliant and are so thin that even a very light sanding will cut through into the
glue line beneath.
BS1088-1:2003 requires
For panels with a nominal thickness of greater than 3.8 mm, each outer ply
shall be not less than 1.0 mm thick after sanding and each inner and core ply shall be not more than 4.8 mm thick.
Problem
Glue bleed through into the outer plies rendering it useless for clear finishing.
BS1088-1:2003 requires
Glue
penetration shall only be permitted in areas adjacent to permitted defects, up to a maximum of 5 % of the area of each outer
ply
I have seen sheets of 4 and 6mm ply that have glue bleed through all over the sheet. One supplier
asked me upon enquiry if we were going to be clear finishing because he had bleed through on all their sheets and they would
not be suitable.
Problem
Sheet marking. We have seen many sheets of so called BS1088 marine ply that
have a small smudged or illegible stamp on the ply that makes a claim that it is BS1088 compliant.
BS1088-1:2003 requires
Panels
conforming to this standard shall be indelibly marked on the edge or back with the following information
in the order shown:
a) the number and date of this British Standard, i.e. BS 1088-1:2003,1)
and the
word “MARINE”;
b) the word “UNBALANCED” if panels are of unbalanced construction;
c) the
word “TREATED” if there has been any application of preservative treatment;
d) the nominal panel thickness;
e) the manufacturer’s name or identification mark;
f) the country of manufacture;
g) the panel type, i.e.
Standard (S) or Lightweight (LW);
h) the name of the timber species according to BS EN 350-2:1994.
So
what we should be seeing on the sheets of standard compliant BS1088 ply is something like;
BS 1088-1:2003, MARINE/UNBALANCED/TREATED/4mm/MD/GB/LW/GABOON
With the "MD" being an example of manufacturers mark, GB being the country of manufacture ( in this case
Great Britain) LW showing that the panel type is Lightweight ( which is indicitave of ADD of species used) and obviously Gabbon
is the species. There are some small variations on this but we source ply from both the UK and France and this is what
is marked on the sheet as required by the standard.
If you are looking at ply that has not been marked
as such, what other part of the standard has not been complied with?
If you read the British standard
it states that “the accuracy of the claim (of standard
compliance) is solely the claimant’s responsibility. Such a declaration is not to be confused with third-party certification
of conformity.
So probably the biggest problem we face as boatbuilders is that there is a bunch of ply being manufactured
that does not comply and both the manufacturers and sellers of the ply are aware of this fact yet, they are still happy to
tout their product as BS1088 compliant. Third party certification that the ply
has actually been manufactured to the standard is considered to be the most stringent test of compliance. Lloyds Register are one such body that independently
assesses products such as Gaboon marine ply against set standards. As a professional boat builder, we spend a good deal of time trying to source the best
quality products for our boats. Normally this is pretty simple but trying to source high quality Gaboon
ply has been frustrating but has also had some funny moments.
I had a recent conversation with the manager of a large panel product distribution company in Australia.
I was making enquiries about their advertised BS1088 plywood. The conversation went something like
this – Vendor
- Yes, it is available, yes it complies to the British Standard. What are you going to use it for? Me – A boat Vendor -
I can’t recommend that, particularly if it is going to get wet Me – But the standard (BS1088)
is for plywood that will be used in marine craft construction?? Vendor – You can do with it what you want but I am
recommending that it not be used in a boat and if you do that is your choice. The next
conversation with a sales manager in another large panel product importer/re-seller didn’t go much
better; Me
– what species is your BS1088 ply made from? Vendor – Who knows? A tropical timber of some description - it
changes a lot. Me
– what is the average weight/density Vendor – it varies quite a bit from sheet to sheet – depends on species
in that pack Me
– Does it comply with the current version of BS1088-1:2003? Vendor – Not sure if that is the exact standard
but it should do, it has a stamp on it. So to quote an old saying, “oils
ain’t oils”. Whoever you get your ply from, your supplier should be able to provide you with
evidence of compliance to BS1088, generally in the form of third party certification. As a general rule
of thumb, I ask a supplier if they are familiar with and have a copy of BS1088-1:2003. If they say they
don’t, then how can they know if the ply they are selling meets the standard?
Some years ago I had built a boat using a high quality BS1088 Gaboon marine
ply from France that was manufactured by the Joubert Group (www.joubert-group.com). This was the real deal
as far as BS1088 went and it had lovely thick face veneers and was a pleasure to use. I thought it would
be great to be able to get it again as Joubert Gaboon marine ply is manufactured to BS1088-1:2003, carries Lloyds Register
Type Approval and is certified for marine craft construction and as an additional bonus it also carries Forest Stewardship
Council certification ( see www.fsc.org) which shows that the raw material is sourced from sustainably managed forests.
So now there is a source in Australia and that is Denman Marine. So if you are looking for some quality BS1088 Gaboon ply in Australia please
contact Denman Marine P.O.Box 105, Kettering, Tasmania 7155 Tel: 03 62674660, or via email andrew@denmanmarine.com.au for further information.
|
