VENDIA in Wooden Boat Magazine

VENDIA has been mentioned in Wooden Boat article about marine plywood written by John C. Harris. The latest issue of Wooden Boat Magazine is comparing the variriety of modern wooden boat building materials and VENDIA is one of them. You can read the whole article behind the link >>

Review of VENDIA marine plank by Adrian Morgan

Last April we wrote about Scottish Adrian Morgan who was fascinated by VENDIA marine plank and built Bob - 4,8 meters long skiff. Adrian found VENDIA marine plank from Richard Jagel's article in WoodenBoat magazine and wrote also a review of VENDIA marine plank himself in the same magazine later this autumn (issue September/October 2015). 

Read more of Adrian's experiences in the original article below and see how VENDIA marine plank was like in the hands of boat builder - writer.

Original article >>

From Finland with love

… This was the pleasant heading of the article about VENDIA marine plank in Classic Boat magazine (March 2015) written by Scottish Adrian Morgan. Adrian first saw VENDIA on the Internet and was keen to try it, because, as he says himself, he hates ordinary plywood. He has been writing a blog about his project with the Gartside 16ft skiff Bob made of VENDIA. It has been pleasant to read about his project and his satisfaction with VENDIA.

Adrian started to build boats with his father when he was eight years old. Together they built several dinghies and a cruising boat, a plywood Waarschip 570. Two years ago after a career in journalism and working in a traditional boat yard in Ullapool, he began to build boats again himself. The first boat he built was a sjekte called FJ. With FJ he won the best boat at the Scottish Traditional Boat Festival in Portsoy. The boat was an 18ft clinker double ender with a Bermudan rig, designed by Karsten Ausland, who emigrated from Scandinavia to the US in the 1930s.

Adrian Morgan

The Gartside skiff Bob made of VENDIA marine plank.

Adrian has done a career in journalism, mostly writing about boats and sailing for magazines and newspapers. In March Adrian wrote an article about VENDIA marine plank to Classic Boat magazine. Adrian told that he doesn’t like ordinary plywood because it can’t be varnished, as it looks horrible. VENDIA looks like real wood and can be varnished. It is also nice to work, no splinters, planes well, smells good and most importantly comes in handy lengths… I can’t speak too highly of it, said Adrian.

Classic Boat article & Adrian's blogPHOTOS: Adrian Morgan

VENDIA in Wooden Boat magazine

VENDIA has drawn attention on the international markets once again. Wooden Boat magazine published a very interesting article about VENDIA marine plank in November/December 2014 issue. The article was written by Richard Jagels, an expert in a field of woodworking industry and emeritus professor of forest biology at the University of Maine.

According to Jagels, VENDIA marine plank resembles exterior-grade plywood but differs in features and appearance from normal plywood. Normal exterior-grade plywood is made of a rotary cut veneers whereas VENDIA marine plank is made of sliced veneers. Jagels shows his expertise by highlighting the weaknesses of rotary cut veneer. One of the problems is that it is kind of broken wood which means that the surface of the veneer includes small checks. After drying and flattening into plywood panels these checks will open and expose the plywood panel to decay fungi. As a result the paint or varnish can be damaged over time.

Since VENDIA marine plank is made of sliced veneer the structure of the wood remains solid and check-free giving VENDIA the outlook of sawn wood. Knot-free veneers are always selected as face veneers which also makes VENDIA marine plank very durable. Regular structure of VENDIA marine plank makes bending of the plank a lot easier compared to traditional sawn wood plank.

Jagels brings out also the MUF-glue used in VENDIA marine plank. MUF-glue has extremely good tolerance of humidity and weather condition changes. The glue provides also esthetically beautiful outcome. MUF-glue is transparent and makes the joints unnoticeable. Traditionally used dark-coloured phenol formaldehydeglue makes the joints very dark. VENDIA has passed glue boiling tests and complies with the technical requirements of British standard BS 1088 used in marine planks.

Jagels has presented the technical features of VENDIA marine plank very extensively and with great expertise. It has been our pleasure to read an article like this here in VENDIA. Full text article can be found by clicking here >>.

VENDIA in British Water Craft magazine

VENDIA has drawn attention also on the international markets. Recently a British Water Craft magazine published an article about VENDIA marine plank. Chairman of the Wooden Boatbuilders Trade Association, Nick Newland contacted us to make this article about the new interesting product for wooden boatbuilding. In this article Nick compares the differences between VENDIA marine plank and traditional rotary cut plywood and also tells his own opinions about this new marine plank.

Among the others, Nick also highlights first the difference in appearance between VENDIA marine plank and traditional rotary cut plywood; VENDIA looks like the best “clear and better” softwood with an attractive knot-free grain. There is also difference in the number of crosswise veneers. Every other veneer is crosswise in the traditional plywood whereas 9 mm VENDIA consists of only two crosswise veneers. This structure gives the plank more bendability across the grain, Nick writes. He also sees VENDIA’s thick face veneers as an important feature of the marine plank. Thickness of the face veneer is 1.5 mm whereas the thickness of the face veneer in traditional rotary cut plywood is often 1 mm or sometimes even less.

Nick sees VENDIA marine plank as an interesting new product for wooden boatbuilding and he believes that it could produce a fine light boat which would look wonderful finished bright.

Click the pictures to see the whole article.