PocketShip.net

Hi present and past PS builders,

I'm starting my PS here in NH. What kind of wood are you (all) using for the noseblock. I have a lovely piece of white oak (historically a good boat-building wood) which I had planned to use for my noseblock (tough and ready for any collision...) but the PS manual discourages use of "hardwoods or oily woods like oak...."

Thanks for your suggestions, and for any post-construction editorial opinions about your choice of wood for this critical part.

All the best,
Mark

I used cypress - mostly because that's what they used on the prototype and CLC speaks highly of it.

Deserved or not, white oak has a bit of a reputation for not working well with epoxy - but, that might be a "wive's tale"

I laminated up some pine, planed/sanded it to spec, trimmed it, then sanded it again. In general, you should avoid using hardwood except for trim. These areas need to flex. It might sound counterintuitive but it's true. Remember, too, that the epoxy and fiberglass will be stronger than any wood, so you want the best wood to soak up the epoxy goodness. Save the oak for some neat trim.

Here's a write up on my noseblock:

Middle of the page
http://sunmonkeypocketship.blogspot.com ... uldnt.html

Bottom of page:
http://sunmonkeypocketship.blogspot.com ... otten.html

Thank you both for your replies, and for all your documentation on blogs and posts.

All the best,
Mark

I still have most of the wood that, oddly enough, was used as the outside of the packing crate for my kit. It looked a lot like some mahogany I bought, but just the other day I noticed someone had written "cypress'' on the end of one of the boards. So if your crate happened to have that around it also, and it looks as good as mine does, you could laminate a couple pieces of it together for a pretty good noseblock. It is probably too late for this, but as I said I only noticed it a couple days ago.