Supersede’s Marine Board is a replacement for wood-based marine-grade plywood. The company builds its Marine Board by extruding bulk post-industrial recycled plastics. The manufacturing process eliminates adhesives and volatile organic compounds. Because Marine Board is recyclable, Supersede regrinds and re-extrudes its solid manufacturing waste into fresh sheets. Better still, Supersede’s buyback program lets users sell unwanted cuts—and full sheets—back to Supersede.
Shane Kenyon, Supersede’s co-founder and head of engineering, says it was a challenge to create a composite equivalent to marine-grade plywood: “This challenge then boiled into four sub-challenges of maintaining cost, weight, recyclability and performance.”
The solution required real-world testing and creating an intensive benchmark catalog of existing marine boards. “Using that benchmark catalog as a design matrix,” he says, “we drove all engineering decisions and development through a constant feedback loop of CAD design, finite element analysis simulation, manufacturing feasibility and costing exercises.”
In addition to offering superior strength and a longer lifespan than plywood, boatbuilders can shape Marine Board using standard saws and drills. Marine Board can also be painted, glued and veneered, and its weight is comparable to wood-based plywood.
Built Tough
Marine Board is UV-stable, resistant to mold, rot, splinters and termites, and waterproof. Its bidirectional strength and lifespan are superior to plywood’s. It can be shaped using standard tools, and painted, glued and veneered using traditional products. Its weight is comparable to wood-based boards.
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