Is epoxy absolutely necessary to waterproof a plywood boat and how thick should I make the bottom,flat part?

Saturday, November 14th, 2009 at 4:11 pm

Is epoxy absolutely necessary to waterproof a plywood boat and how thick should I make the bottom,flat part?

I plan on building a plywood boat and will buy plans.But was wondering about the thickness of the plywood to use and can I just use regular plywood (exterior use type ) instead of marine plywood.And do I have to steam the plywood for bending into shape for the sides as the bottom will be flat?I plan to incorporate the ribs into the seats to cut down on the amount of plywood I use.I plan to use a thicker wood , probably planks or solid pieces of timber for the transom.Also I don't know if it is worth it to use epoxy for waterproofing the boat.I do plan now to use galvanized,stainless steel, bronze or brass screws.