DIY Plastics
Andrew 00:08
So, you know, one of the things we really support on the Boat Outfitter side is the do it yourselfer, right? I mean, that's a big thing. We sell a lot of finished goods, but we sell a lot of raw materials. Well, we sell different piano hinges and plastic sheets and sheets cut the size. And the very high level question we get a lot is, you know, what kind of plastic do I need to use for my boat improvement project? Right. So I really high level, what are the main materials that, you know might make sense if you're doing a DIY project for both?
Matt 00:38
Yeah, if I'm going to run through the list real quick, you probably have King Starboard, which is an HDPE, high density polyethylene plastic. Then you've got acrylic, right, like Plexiglas, You’ve got PVC. Everybody's familiar with PVC in the form of a pipe. But this is extruded into a sheet form,
Andrew 00:54
Mostly expanded PVC as opposed to solid. Solid’s too heavy, but yeah, right, right.
Luke 00:59
And all those three mat, right are sheet good plastic materials, they come in a big sheet, and they can be cut to size. It's a flat material. Right,
Matt 01:06
And I'd say the other plastic that you're going to encounter in the marine industry is with thermoform plastic, but it's going to be less likely to be used in a custom application or a project.
Andrew 01:15
And probably not applicable for you, right? I mean, if you were trying to do a DIY project that wouldn't be applicable. It's normally the high density polyethylene, which is Starboard, or the acrylic, which commonly known as Plexiglas, or the expanded PVC.
Matt 01:29
Yeah, so let's talk about the merits of those three different materials and the way that it applies to the projects, right. King Starboard HDPE. It's dense, it's durable, but it's a softer plastic, it's more likely to flex, but if you if you whack it with a hammer, it's not going to break. Right, whereas acrylic on the other hand, it's more brittle, but it has a glossier finish. And it's a much more attractive for the eye, it's going to match the gel coat better, but it is still a durable material. It's just more likely to break the Starboard, right?
Andrew 01:57
Yeah, it's interesting. it's more rigid but able to break or crack where a Starboard when I think one important thing to think about is your most people probably picture Plexiglas or glossy plastic. The fastest way for a layperson, I would explain Starboard is think like you're cutting boards, right? You're the cutting board that the plastic cutting board material, it's got that, that textured finish to it, which again,, the orange peel finish, which again, you know, some people might argue that because that doesn't match the, the gel coat and the gloss the finish of your boat, that maybe acrylic is a higher end look. But you give up a little bit there because one, it's more expensive and two, it is more brittle. Right,
Matt 02:37
Right. And then PVC is the other material that we're talking about, right. And PVC is usually a material that you'll find on a boat, but you won't know it's there until you actually go and pull something apart. It's more of a substrate more of a substrate. They'll use it as a backing board or a mounting board on the inside of the console for electronics. They use it for upholstery and most of the time the upholstery that you have either on the inside the cabin, even for some of your backrest. It's a PVC material that has foam and upholstery wrapped around it.
Luke 03:05
And what about like Starboard or acrylic? What are the most common things you use, you've seen those for?
Matt 03:10
Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of crossover in those materials. I mean, almost 100% crossover, but you'll see them used in doors, deck hatches, live well lids, you know, console doors.
Andrew 03:24
One important thing about acrylic that I don't think we've mentioned yet is acrylic, you know, unlike Starboard, is completely opaque, you can't see through it. There's no version of starboard that's transparent, whereas acrylic there's both opaque and transparent and then different degrees of transparency acrylic, right.
So, you know, there's, there's the pure white, black, white or black, opaque acrylics, but then there's purely clear, there's a green edge, it's meant to look like glass, then there's the you know, the different tinted acrylics, right, you know, so if, say, for example, there's some things that are just hard stops, like, I want to clear live well lid, acrylic, right, right.
You know, I want a door, a console door, well, you could do it out of poly, right or which is Starboard, right? He's made a bunch of different terms, if you use that a Starboard, or you could do it out of acrylic, right and Starboard is going to be there forever. But the acrylic is actually a little more rigid. You know, once you get a very big door you now you might want the rigidity of the acrylic.
Matt 04:18
Right, it's less likely to take on a bend or warp.
Andrew 04:20
What about the ability to work with the different deals would you say acrylic is I would say by far the most difficult to work with?
Matt 04:29
Far more challenging, yeah, when you're cutting it, you'll get chipping on the edges. And even with a good fresh blade that can happen. You know, sometimes it comes from either pushing the material too fast or too slow on the on the saw. You need a special drill bit so that it doesn't blow the material out on the punch through and then Starboard on the other hand, it's almost the most forgiving material you could be working with. It cuts very easily cuts very quick. The only thing you really have to look out for there is you know, maybe using a hole saw that you don't heat the material up.
Andrew 05:01
Yeah, the other thing with acrylic is you know when you cut acrylic you have to re-polish the edges. For Starboard you know the edge, you know, assuming you're using a decent bit, right, you know that the edge finish is going to be nice as it is. Whereas acrylic you have to come back and polish the edges. In fact, I'd go as far to say, for the average person who's just doing a general boat improvement project, you want to work with woodworking tools, and they want to get something simple done. You know, if you can picture imagine a cutting board type material that matches which we have all the different colors that matches the common gel coat. If you picture a cutting board material that's easy to work with, King Starboard is probably the answer. If you have questions beyond that you know I would encourage you to call in because we've done just about everything you can out of Starboard and acrylic and PVC for that matter.
If you have questions beyond that, but I think if you had to give one answer, the answer would be King Starboard. Which again is a UV stabilized high density polyethylene right super common use for decades in the marine industry.