JD's Garage Micro
Now it was time to surface the ramp with the first layer of plywood. As I mentioned, I planned carefully so this layer would go on without me even having to cut any of the 4 plywood sheets. For the first layer using the 3/8" plywood I put the sheets on by bending the wood with the grain. Bending with the grain is easier to do, but it makes the surface a bit slower if you're skating on it. The first or second layers don't matter as much because you won't be skating directly on them, but for the final layer I applied the wood by bending it against the grain for a smoother ride. You'll see photos of that further down the page.
To begin fastening the plywood to the frame, I marked each plywood sheet using a carpenter's square so that I had a penciled grid to guide me through the placement of each 1 5/8" wood screw. When planning wood screw placement, it is very important to plan each plywood layer carefully so that the screws are slightly offset on each one. If I hadn't of done this, the screws from my second layer might lay directly over the screws from the earlier layers and I wouldn't be able to screw very far into the wood without hitting the underlying screws. From coping to coping you'll want a wood screw every 8" because that's where they will meet the underlying rib supports. From side to side width-wise is where you'll want your offset because as long as it's on one of your ribs, you can easily adjust from side to side.
After I had my plywood marked, I positioned and started screwing in my first piece beginning at the center seam of the flat bottom For the skate surface layers, I did not pre-drill the holes. From the photo below you can see that I used my cinder blocks again to help hold the plywood in place as I went to screw it in. It helps to have someone else around to hold each ply in place as you go (usually by standing on it), but at this point I didn't have that option.
To continue, I fastened the other 3 sheets and there was my first layer. Here are some photos of how it looked at that point.
First 3/8" Plywood Layer
