# marine ply



## Mrs dirtydozen (Sep 5, 2008)

anyone got a clue how much this stuff is a sheet


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## Fixx (May 6, 2006)

Depends on thickness

8'x4' @ 9mm about £25

8'x4' @ 12mm about £32

8'x4' @ 18mm about £50


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## ratking (Mar 4, 2008)

Wickes


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## Lotus Nut (Jan 7, 2008)

Instead of marine or wpb ply you can use shuttering ply, not as well finished as marine as one face can have some flaws (one normally good), ply not as hard as wpb and often lighter in shade and weight , 8x4 in 18mm is about £22 - £28 so much cheaper


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## Mrs dirtydozen (Sep 5, 2008)

Lotus Nut said:


> Instead of marine or wpb ply you can use shuttering ply, not as well finished as marine as one face can have some flaws (one normally good), ply not as hard as wpb and often lighter in shade and weight , 8x4 in 18mm is about £22 - £28 so much cheaper


 
is this as water proof as marine ply though? also what does wpb stand for lol


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## Jim2109 (Mar 30, 2009)

marine ply isnt particularly water proof, the adhesives used in it are, the wood itself is still prone to rotting. the fact it is often marketed as "waterproof" doesnt mean you can get it wet over long periods of time without sealing it and expect it not to rot eventually. it just means that the adhesives dont break down when exposed to prolonged periods of moisture. hence it is used on boats and in exterior applications (wbp is the more common exterior wood as it is lots cheaper, marine ply is normally used for marine applications, funnily enough).

marine and wbp ply are better at withstanding moist environments than normal ply (wbp stands for "weather and boil proof"). but if you seal any of them with yacht varnish they will all hold up fairly similarly. youre talking decades here, the wood will generally outlive the reptile, even with cheap ply. you can get away with grade 3 oriented strand board as well, which is even cheaper

on the other hand, MDF, chipboard, etc dont hold up as well.

if you are going to have actual standing water in the enclosure, e.g. a pond, then dont have it sat on wood, regardless of whether it has been varnished and the edges siliconed though. youll want to have a plastic or fibreglass (or similar) shell for the water to sit in. otherwise its just asking for trouble


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