question Bending 3mm ply

[Tony B]

One thing the Dodge designers where not on thier top game about is the canvas over the back of a Wepaons Carrier. I'm thinking about placing two sheets of 3 mm ply across the top of the frame and using that to support the rear canvas. However! The frame curves away. Can anyone tell me if 3 mm ply would bend around a 30 ' or so curve or would I need to steam it? I do have a couple of steam cleaners and a wall paper stripper (Somewhere) available. Would these work?

[Gordon_M]

No

Yes

No

 

There you go. Best ply to use would be marine grade and I think you'd need an autoclave of some sort.

[101 Ron]

I had to bend some marine ply to make curved seat backs for a vehicle.

I learn things the hard way by trial and error until I got it correct.

I boiled the plywood in a very large pot.....a stew pot from sold army cooker for a hour or so.

That made the plywood flexible enough to do what I wanted with less effort and without breaking.

The real problem was fully supporting the ply in the correct shape for a day or two under a fair bit of pressure until it set.

To do this correctly you need a mold set the plywood to the correct shape.

The plywood can not just be supported just here or there, it must be supported all over.

[redneck]

Depends on the bend radius, but regular WBP ply will bend quite a lot, or you can buy flexible ply made for more acute bends.

Here for example http://www.lathamtimber.co.uk/products/panels/flexi-products/flexible-plywood

 

or you could make it with strips of timber rather than a sheet. I fitted strips of 3/4" ply between the the frames of my RB44 to make a solid roof under the canvas that I could walk on and fit a roof rack to.

[g0ozs]

Tony

 

I had similar issues with a sagging tilt and water pools on my SUMB - I used hardwood battens lengthwise attached to the hoops at about 6 inch spacing to support the tilt and avoid collecting rainwater, if that is an alternative in your situation ?

 

Iain

[Sean N]

Tony

 

I had similar issues with a sagging tilt and water pools on my SUMB - I used hardwood battens lengthwise attached to the hoops at about 6 inch spacing to support the tilt and avoid collecting rainwater, if that is an alternative in your situation ?

 

Iain

 

 

...which is what a lot of British stuff had for many years. Allows ventilation to the tilt as well, so you don't get damp sitting between the tilt and the wood and rotting them both out; not near as quickly, anyway.

[g0ozs]

Sean

 

I admit to being inspired by old photos - should have said that !

 

Iain

[Tony B]

Thanks guys. Battening sounds a much easier answer, and as said allows ventalation. Time to measure up and price stuff.