Picked marine plywood over cheap OSB for my cabin floor rebuild - saved my butt last week

Had to make a call between 1/2 inch marine ply at $65 a sheet or OSB at $22. Went with the plywood. Three days later a copper supply line burst under the sink while I was at work. Came back to six hours of standing water in the bilge. The OSB would've turned to mush by then. Marine ply just swelled a bit at the edges and dried out fine after I hit it with a fan for two days. Now I'm wondering if anyone else spent the extra cash on something and had it pay off quick like this.

2 comments

2 Comments

reese_perry61mo ago

Wait isn't marine plywood actually just exterior grade plywood with a different glue? I thought the main difference was no voids in the core layers. Your bilge situation still ended up way better than OSB though so that $65 a sheet seems like a steal now.

lilyo301mo ago

Swear I've learned more about plywood glue than I ever wanted to just from my own mistakes. Guess that makes me a professional at picking the wrong material now, so that's something at least.