So the box was built out of 1/2' plywood in two pieces, a three sided lower portion joined to the floor and transom and the top with is three sides with a top that will flip forward to access the engine. The seats are identical to the top of the motor box so consider it the same only smaller. We are gonna skip the seats since I was using a crummy camera for the seat construction. Since this wood is not structural to the boat and Southern Yellow Pine is about five times stronger than the fir used in Marine ply I should be fine. This wood is relatively cheap about $25 a sheet but usually comes wet so expect warping and twisting as it drys if not frames tightly.įor this project I went cheap with CSX exterior plywood and chose to paint it with exterior latex house paint, two coats. This plywood is basically cheap exterior grade ply that is then treated for rot and insects. Pressure Treated ply - This plywood is treated against rot, caution must be taken when using any treated wood due to the toxic chemicals involved. I used Southern Yellow Pine CDX for this project, a 1/2' sheet cost me $13 vs about $50 locally for marine ply.ģ. There will be voids and these days the quality of the wood is pretty darn low. Exterior Plywood - This wood made from many different materials uses a waterproof glue like marine ply but the quality of the wood is much lower. What makes marine grade is the waterproof glue and lack of voids within the layers, this provides superior strength for structural components like transoms of a boat.Ģ. Marine grade is not treated for rot, it must be kept dry somehow (paint) and will rot. Marine Grade - This could be many types of softwood glued together with exterior waterproof glue. There are many grades of plywood, some say marine grade is what you need, others say pressure treated. I am almost sure I missing something, before you ever start do a lot of research, some good internet resources for marine sewing are and the forums at Now, on plywood.

Paint for the plywood (I used some old leftover white)Įlectric Carving Knife (for cutting the foam) Plywood for the bases (more on plywood below) Marine Thread (Bonded Polyester in the V69 size is recommended)įoam (Joaans fabric with 50% off coupon is not too bad on price.) Marine Vinyl (ebay has this pretty cheap) Well we now have the sewing machine so what else is needed? A lot, I will try to compile a list So after about two weeks of sewing practice I figured I was ready to go so let's get started on this project! $35 later I had a Singer 237 cast iron beast but in Italy in the early 60's and the thing has no problem chomping through eight layers of marine vinyl.

Step one was to get a sewing machine so off to craigslist I went. Heck, I sewed back in middle school, what was that. The vinyl all throughout the boat was pretty much shot so in my ultimate wisdom I decided to take on the project and redo the interior. The boat is an inboard outboard so there is a padded motor box in the back with a custom sized jump seat on each side of the motor. So this is one of my installments on restoring my 22 foot aluminum Sylvan boat. This is how I did it, take note, this is my first time sewing vinyl and I have not sewn since I was a kid so bear with me. The plywood for the original motor box and seats was rotten to the the core so everything had to be rebuilt including new plywood, cushions, and vinyl. Finally got a little time to do some work so I made new seats and motor box for the back of the boat.

Diy boat inboard engine cover