Wood to use for furring strips

Hello, I thought I would ask the collective here about this.
I will be installing new headliner/wall panels, and adding insulation behind the panels. To accomplish this I will be attaching with epoxy furring strips that the panels will attach to with insulation between the strips.

What type of wood would be good to use for the furring strips?

Initially, I was using Red Balau, which is used for decking, but this seems like overkill and is expensive. Other options I am thinking about are white oak, red cedar, or just plain marine plywood cut into strips.

Has anyone done this and what did you use?

I bought a rough cut 5/4 piece of 1x8 teak by 8 feet long. Round over each edge with a router, cut a 1/2 inch strip on a table saw and repeat. It made nice batons. The teak plank cost me somewhere around $200.

If they are hidden just use pressure treated

Cedar can smell pretty strongly and isn't as stable as some others. Teak works but way too expensive and not necessary. Pressure treated is toxic (sawdust etc) and the cut edges aren't protected. Plywood isn't as good as solid wood at holding fasteners.


I would use white oak. It doesn't warp easily, is rot resistant and moisture tolerant, easy to work with, and reasonably priced. Its dense enough to hold fasteners and its widely available.



You could probably get away with almost anything (big box store pine/fir), but use white oak and you know you won't ever have to go back and do that job again.

Even Poplar. It is easy to work and will hold screws well. It is a reasonably priced option.

guy with a boat said:

I would use white oak. It doesn't warp easily, is rot resistant and moisture tolerant, easy to work with, and reasonably priced. Its dense enough to hold fasteners and its widely available.

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Thanks, I think I am leaning to white oak, for the reasons you mention. Also, I only want to do this once.

I don't know balau wood so cannot comment.

I have used mahogany. It's a good wood and fairly priced, on par with white oak.

I would not use cedar as it is soft and does not hold fasteners as well as a hardwood. If paint is in the future, it does not hold that as well either. Fir would be better, but it's expensive for quality wood.

White oak would be fine. Poplar too, though it is rot prone with any moisture.

Personally, if go with mahogany (sapel). It's expensive, but all hardwoods are.

Peter .

Meranti seems to match teak and red cedar in grain. Just don`t build a hull with it.
For us, red cedar is a beautiful Australian native timber. Your "red cedar" may be quite different.

1. Is this visible? No
2. Is this expose to weathering? No
3. Is it structural? No

Use good quality plywood, glaze it if you want to add strength and I am 100% sure it will still be there when you will bite the dust.
Even properly sealed dry dimensional lumber like SPF will survive you without a doubt.

L

Lou_tribal said:

Use good quality plywood, glaze it if you want to add strength and I am 100% sure it will still be there when you will bite the dust.
Even properly sealed dry dimensional lumber like SPF will survive you without a doubt.

L

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I’m curious: what do you mean “glaze it if you want to add strength”?

I don’t recognize the term.

guy with a boat said:

I’m curious: what do you mean “glaze it if you want to add strength”?

I don’t recognize the term.

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You can glue battens to their underlying supports with epoxy and if you want to add strength you can glazed them with fiberglass (meaning adding epoxy impregnated fiberglass cloth over them to reinforce them).

But for the usage the PO describes it would be just overkill. He just want some battens where to screw on cosmetic panels, nothing structural or anything that would need to held heavy weight.

L

I usually coat the wood with epoxy before installing it. Then if it will show I paint it if not just leave it and use thickened epoxy to glue it to the boat.

I'm not understanding why pressure treated is not a good choice. It will last longer than the boat and no need for epoxy coating. Toxicity of sawdust? Wear a mask. Plenty around these days. Aesthetics? It will all be covered, no need for painting. Fasteners will hold well but will fasteners even be used anyway?

mvweebles said:

I don't know balau wood so cannot comment.

I have used mahogany. It's a good wood and fairly priced, on par with white oak.

I would not use cedar as it is soft and does not hold fasteners as well as a hardwood. If paint is in the future, it does not hold that as well either. Fir would be better, but it's expensive for quality wood.

White oak would be fine. Poplar too, though it is rot prone with any moisture.

Personally, if go with mahogany (sapel). It's expensive, but all hardwoods are.

Peter .

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My vote would be Mahogany. Price is ok and the workability is better than most.

Greetings,
Mr. c. It is my understanding that PT wood (some types of) does not play well with epoxy. IF an adhesive other than epoxy will be used it may be OK.


I'm with M. L_t on this one. Use plywood strips. An exterior grade will have water proof glue so moisture shouldn't be a problem. Cheap, easy to work with and will flex to conform to any radius. I don't see much advantage in coating the slats with epoxy for this particular application. A coat of paint would probably serve as well if you're concerned about sealing the plywood.



I have had good success with using construction adhesive in dry areas on board. A few advantages of the tube adhesive are no mixing, exact application amounts, no drips and easy clean-up.

RT Firefly said:

Greetings,
Mr. c. It is my understanding that PT wood (some types of) does not play well with epoxy. IF an adhesive other than epoxy will be used it may be OK.


I'm with M. L_t on this one. Use plywood strips. An exterior grade will have water proof glue so moisture shouldn't be a problem. Cheap, easy to work with and will flex to conform to any radius. I don't see much advantage in coating the slats with epoxy for this particular application. A coat of paint would probably serve as well if you're concerned about sealing the plywood.



I have had good success with using construction adhesive in dry areas on board. A few advantages of the tube adhesive are no mixing, exact application amounts, no drips and easy clean-up.

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PT also eats standard fasteners so special screws are recommended. I assume SS would be fine, but don't know for sure.

Not talking about much wood. Not sure why not use traditional marine grade materials such as mahogany.

catalinajack said:

I'm not understanding why pressure treated is not a good choice. It will last longer than the boat and no need for epoxy coating. Toxicity of sawdust? Wear a mask. Plenty around these days. Aesthetics? It will all be covered, no need for painting. Fasteners will hold well but will fasteners even be used anyway?

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If you are referring to my comment, I’m just not of fan of pressure-treated for anything other than a few construction applications, such as next to concrete that might have some moisture in it.

The treated part doesn’t penetrate all the wood, so when you rip it into strips (or otherwise make cuts) you have no protection on the cut sides. Now you don’t have uniform rot resistance and you still have to deal with the toxicity issues with no great benefit.

Plywood works but the screw-holding isn’t as good as solid wood, if that is a factor.

For this application, probably any kind of wood will do fine. The boat shouldn’t have enough moisture inside to be an issue. We didn’t discuss what quantity is needed, but I didn’t get the idea that the volume is enough for cost to be a major issue. If it were me, I would go to the wood supplier and buy either white oak or mahogany, depending on which was a better price and available.

If this was boating season, this thread would be 2 posts long. I guess we have to talk about something in the meantime.