Slow Build in Oz

[edgeau]

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Allegedly, one of the differences is that marine ply has no voids. Until you read a few posts where people have cut into voids.

Yes I was one of those unlucky ones. I managed to work around it but I was not impressed!

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[MickinOz]

Turned the trailer over and sat it on jackstands today so I could trim off the mounts for the boat bits I removed and scrape and paint.
And...........that's when I discovered that the paint on the top side of the trailer has been hiding the fact that the frame has been built with galvanised steel!
You bloody little beauty...
Just when you are thinking to yourself "for an extra grand, I could have had a trailer ready to go, maybe I should have sprung for one of those bolt together jobs".....

[edgeau]

Score!

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[MickinOz]

Do people use 18g galvanised staples?
Mate from work scored an air powered stapler at a garage sale and has loaned it to me for the duration of the build.
It takes up to 1 1/4" or 32mm 18g staples.
I'm thinking these would be the right size for skinning the roof, holding joints together, etc.
By joints, I mean that I'm planning to make the cabinetry by routing rebates in ply, and glueing and stapling the shelves, etc, in the rebates.
Major structural joints, eg spars to sidewalls, I was planning to glue and screww.

[tony.latham]

Do people use 18g galvanised staples?

I use the heck out of them. A great tool –-over here we call 'em 1/4" crown staples. Perfect for the headliner and the roof.



For me, it's a damn-near must-have for a teardrop build.

Tony

p.s. No issues with corrosion.

[MickinOz]

Thanks.
I did a "Bunnings run" on Saturday.
i.e. I did the 480km round trip to the hardware store.

Bought some stuff.
a pack of Powerfit narrow crown staples that has 1000 each of 16,22,28, and 32mm staples in it.
500g bottle of Sika Techgrip
2 x Sika 252 cartridges
2 Litres of Bondall marine grade polyurethane.
Screws.
Some 42 x 19 and 4 x 32 pine pine for spars, etc.

About $320 all-up.

Still very frustrated with regard to roofing ply.

The criteria seem simple enough:
Waterproof glue line.
Thin enough to bend easily.
I want to see it before I buy it.
Not ridiculously expensive.

Commonly available options are:
3mm "project Panel" BC faces, interior grade bond - looks good, bends easy at the store, but wrong glue.
4mm plybrace - A Bond DD faces, hardwood veneers, right glue but doubtful about being able to bend without cracking
6mm Marine ply - AA faces - right glue, good quality hardwood veneers, but getting up there thickness wise.
7mm plybrace - another structural bracing product for house building, pine veneers with A Bond. Right glue, being pine might bend OK.

Trouble is, I went to two Bunnings stores and they only had the 3mm interior grade in stock.
I hate ordering stuff without seeing it. It's OK if I'm going to use it for it's original purpose, but when you are going to use a product for something else you want to see it first.
I'm going to try a couple of other stores.

[edgeau]

6mm Marine Ply will work. It is a bit challenging to bend but doable.

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[swoody126]

those 1/4" crown staples also come in stainless steel

we also use the dickens out of them building small boats for holding the plywood in place while the pox cures

sw

[tony.latham]

I did the 480km round trip to the hardware store.

Where the heck do you live over there? I thought I lived in the middle of no-where since the nearest Home Depot is three hours.

But I'm gonna run into town and buy two bolts. Be back in twenty.

Tony

[MickinOz]

those 1/4" crown staples also come in stainless steel

we also use the dickens out of them building small boats for holding the plywood in place while the pox cures

sw

If only. Bunnings is about the biggest hardware chain in the country.
I went to two of their stores in the capital city on Saturday and couldn't get stainless staples nor any plywood that looked thin enough to bend.

I did the 480km round trip to the hardware store.

Where the heck do you live over there?

Tony

I live in a town called Port Pirie. It is 229 km north by road from the capital, Adelaide. You pass 6 or 7 small towns on the way, but only actually pass through 3. Of the 3 you actually pass through, the populations are around 168, 560 and 377.
By the time you do a bit of running around you rack up 480 to 500km on your car for a day trip.
Port Pirie itself has a population of around 14,000.
We have two hardware stores. One is a little shopfront in the CBD that runs a fair selection of paints and tools, but not much in the way of timber, if any, come to think of it.
The parent store is the Mitre 10 store in Port Augusta, a further 95 km north of Port Pirie, which is where I got my 15 and 17 mm plywood.

The other store here in town is a Home Hardware store.
Expensive and range is frustratingly small.

Examples:
1 Litre of exterior polyurethane was somewhere north of $50. Can't say for sure, but I think it was around $58.
1 Litre of marine grade polyurethane in Bunnings Adelaide $34.
500g of Sika Techgrip $33 in Port Pirie, compared with $22 in Bunnings Adelaide.
Sika 252 - not stocked.
He might have the variety packs of narrow crown staples, but if he has I couldn't find them. Actually the sales assistant and I couldn't find any narrow crown staples.
Caulking gun for 600mL sausages of glue and sealer - cheapest in Home Hardware was around $60
Sausage guns in Bunnings are $10.49
Screws, bolts etc. very expensive.
Plywood - sales woman said she could order the 15mm sheets but didn't have a price list.

What would you pay for 6 x 1/2 inch bolts, length 3 inches. with washer and nut? 4.8 grade, not 8.8?
Here, that was $15 at the little steel place across the road from the big hardware store, which was about right to me - woulda cost nearly $12 in Adelaide without the washers.

Got hold of another hardware store 120km down the peninsula.
He has 1 sheet of non-structural 1/8"/3.2mm plywood in stock. He checked with suppliers and it is A-Bond glue.
I might shoot down the road on Friday and have a look at it, If it is OK I may ask him to order some more.

The trouble is, we don't use much plywood in Australia. I get the impression it is a very commonly used building material in the US.
Here in the state of South Australia, not so much. Might be something to do with the termites.

There is a product called plybrace, 4mm thick and A-Bond glue. It is a hardwood structural ply, DD face. Used for bracing timber house frames. Trouble is, it is engineered for stiffness, not bendiness.

See, South Australia has a population of 1.7 million, in an area about 100,000 square miles bigger than Texas, which has 29 million people..

I'm paying the price of living in a very low population density place.
Fear not, I will track down an acceptable product soon.

[edgeau]

Have you tried places like Australian Timber or Burnie Timber down in Adelaide? Surely they would have a better range than Bunnings.

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[MickinOz]

Have you tried places like Australian Timber or Burnie Timber down in Adelaide? Surely they would have a better range than Bunnings.

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Tried Australian Timber for 9 foot lengths that were advertised on their website.
Salesman said yes, "That is x dollars per sheet." Can't remember exact figure but wasn't ridiculous.
He said "Call before you come down so we confirm with the warehouse (they have two locations, shop and warehouse)".
So I did that one Friday before leaving home. The second salesman said, "Mate we never have those, I dunno why they are still advertised on the website."

That was for floor and wall sheets. Since I would have had to settle for 2400 x 1200 sheets I figured no point in paying through the nose from specialist supplier and took the short trip to Port Augusta instead.

BTW, a note for Australian "professional" timber suppliers - 2400mm is not 8 feet. If you reckon 40mm or 1.57 inches is insignificantly short, I suggest you check in with your missus.
Don't say you have 8 feet sheets when they are only 2400 long.

I haven't yet called them back for bendy sheets.
Haven't tried Burnie timber yet. A lot of these joints can and will order them for you, but after decades of being stiffed by people who say they can have it in 4 days and take 4 weeks, or supply shite that is nowhere near the quality required, I am very, very averse to buying stuff I cannot see and touch first.

[PaulC]

Mick, I have some sheets of bendy ply over here in Laura. You can also buy them from Gunnersens. That's where I used to purchase all my timber when building. One stop shop.

Cheers
PaulC

[edgeau]

Don't say you have 8 feet sheets when they are only 2400 long.

Sounds like you have had the run-around. I was pleasantly surprised to find my 2400 sheets were in fact 8 foot. You are right that extra few cm makes a big difference when you have an imported chassis that is actually 8 foot!

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[MickinOz]

Mick, I have some sheets of bendy ply over here in Laura. You can also buy them from Gunnersens. That's where I used to purchase all my timber when building. One stop shop.

Cheers
PaulC

Ah good 'ol Gunnersens.
I called them a couple weeks ago.
Quote, " We don't sell to the public. Order through Bunnings." End Quote
Back to how the f@*k do I know what to order if I can't see it and touch it, and anyway Bunnings is a 5 hour round trip.

So I went into Home Hardware here in Pirie.
"Do you deal in Gunnersen's plywood?"
"Yes, what do you want?"
"That depends on availability and price, do you have a catalogue and price list?"
"No"

F@*k Me.

Called Australian Timber today - the meranti bendy ply they do sell doesn't have a waterproof glue.

Anyway, what is the specs on your bendy ply and do you have any for sale?