Waterproofing plywood for outdoors

_Brian

Folks, I want to make a plywood waterwheel as a test for hydro on a small river.

Obviously it will only be a temporary thing but what could I treat the plywood with to get the longest out of it.

maybe something like this ??

https://www.owatrol.ie/product/h4-wood/

cnocbui

Marine plywood and then coat it with epoxy.

Danzy

OSB with epoxy.

Sounds like a great idea, hope you take lots of photos.

_Brian

Mmmm

Would a few coats of yacht varnish give osb decent protection. EPOXY might run a bit too much money.

plan is 1.5 meter diameter to the wheel.

The Continental Op

Assuming this isn't going to be permanent then to get the best out of your plywood then you need to seal the ends. Anything that soaks in will help and that owtrol product will do a decent job at that. However having used a lot of owtrol based products after soaking the end grain and painting the surface with it I suggest you do a coat all over with a 50:50 owtrol:paint mix.

cnocbui

Epoxy sourced via ebay isn't likely to cost much more than that.

Le shovelle

Tricoya mdf is worth looking at

_Brian

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121725094#Comment_121725094

Any chance you could suggest something ?

Lumen

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121724466#Comment_121724466

Yacht varnish has better UV resistance than epoxy, is prob cheaper and safer but will require at least three coats .

Epoxy can probably be done in one and might have better resistance to abrasion. I think I'd trust epoxy more in this application particularly if you have joints or fixings - you can fine tune the thickness with thickening agent and gloop it all over. I get mine from the local marine supplies place. Protect your skin, epoxy can trigger really bad skin reactions.

Jnealon

Have ordered from easy composites a few times, very reasonable

GreeBo

If its only temporary, I would probably just use melamine or something and seal the open ends with some cheap varnish.

Either that or try to find some cheap, used polycarbonate.

GreeBo

Or maybe some composite decking boards?

basill

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058334736/waterproofing-plywood-for-outdoors

Search out Marty T on youtube. He uses an old washing machine for free electricity.