Marine Ply

If you want really good quality marine ply, then Robbins in Bristol and they will deliver. I've used other merchants around Southend and Basildon for some interior works. It is cheaper but the quality is not as good.
 
Kent and Blazil, builders merchants Colchester (south side) do 6, 9, 12 & 18mm. Come from Maldon through Layer and you come easily to them. Would agree it is worth looking at it and you can go into the sheet materials warehouse and have a look - well in normal times.
 
Ridgeons in Diss had some BS1088 Marine Plywood earlier this year - looked good on a cursory look but don't know if they have a branch near you.
 
tillergirl said:
Kent and Blazil, builders merchants Colchester (south side) do 6, 9, 12 & 18mm. Come from Maldon through Layer and you come easily to them. Would agree it is worth looking at it and you can go into the sheet materials warehouse and have a look - well in normal times.
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That will be Kent Blaxill. Branches throughout East Anglia. Good for house renovation materials too.
 
Worth trying Brooks Bros of Danbury. They used to have a depot in Maldon, not sure they still do. Not the cheapest but very helpful.
Just because it says Marine ply BS 1088 is no guarantee of quality. I have had some real rubbish. Best to visit the yard and check it.
 
There is absolutely no guarrantee if plywood is any good if it has BS1088, "Marine" , Exterior or anything unless it has come from a reputable manufacturer. I have seen an offcut so called marine ply disintegrate literally overnight after getting wet. Much of the stuff on the market from builders merchants might well be stuck together with wallpaper paste.
Leigh timber co had some that wasnt bad but i dont know where it was made
If you want good stuff, its pretty much Robbins or suppliers that do the same product or Brynzeel. It aint cheap.
 
Everyone recommends Robbins, and I have no doubt that their products are excellent. However, when I was looking into buying plywood to make a dinghy, I was put off by their delivery charges, which seemed to me to be extortionate - they would increase the cost of 4 sheets of ply (all I needed) by about 25% (over 100% for a single sheet!), and given that their plywood is highly-priced (not saying it isn't worth it), that's a big hit. Of course, plywood isn't a convenient size or shape for shipping, but I would expect a company that delivers all over the UK to have advantageous deals with a courier - everyone else manages to do it!
 
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Keith 66 said:
There is absolutely no guarrantee if plywood is any good if it has BS1088, "Marine" , Exterior or anything unless it has come from a reputable manufacturer. I have seen an offcut so called marine ply disintegrate literally overnight after getting wet. Much of the stuff on the market from builders merchants might well be stuck together with wallpaper paste.
Leigh timber co had some that wasnt bad but i dont know where it was made
If you want good stuff, its pretty much Robbins or suppliers that do the same product or Brynzeel. It aint cheap.
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Same here, stamped with the relevant stamp and delamination happened literally overnight, took a lot of stress and hassle to get a refund.
 
while Robins are recommended by some they are not the only ones.

You could try Sykes timber who come with some endorsement here:
Wood for Boat Building - Sykes Timber
In Warwickshire

Bamptons at:
Home - Bamptons
In Southampton

Stones:
Stones Marine Timber - Home
In Devon

I did find a good one up the East Side but can't recall who it was. A local wooden boat owner drove two hundred miles to get a sheet of Robbins marine grade 1/4 ply only to be offered a sheet of three ply. He walked out.
 
Lucy52 said:
while Robins are recommended by some they are not the only ones.. A local wooden boat owner drove two hundred miles to get a sheet of Robbins marine grade 1/4 ply only to be offered a sheet of three ply. He walked out.
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From Robbins themselves????

I doubt that because their 6mm Elite and Super-Elite is 5 ply (only the 3mm and 4mm is 3 ply)

Crucially with Robbins plywood, the core plys are top quality as well as the facings. Every sheet of so called BS1088 I've ever bought from anyone else has, regardless of how good it looked superficially, had crap in the middle! (I haven't, to be fair, ever bought anything from Sykes so that's not aimed at them!)

Yes, it's painful on the wallet but who else has plywood manufactured to their own specification*, with their own staff out in the Far East inspecting the product at the mills and who else offers a 15 to 25 year guarantee (depending on the product)?

* A point that ... you cannot buy Robbins plywood (new) from anybody but Robbins. I have, some years ago, seen somebody claiming to have a stock of their plywood selling on Ebay (i assume they got shut down as they disappeared fairly rapidly but one wonders how many folks got conned first)
 
PS ...

Neither Sykes nor Stones list marine plywood in their product range

Bamptons do but with no information as to the source, quality or price

None of them have an online ordering facility, price list or delivery info / costs

And none of them are handy for the East Coast
 
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