Zandoz , my take is this , coosa & others like it would perform great , however , these products are very expensive. a/c ply , especially if it's glassed on all sides will more than likely outlast the rest of the car [the plywood transom & floor in my boat lasted nearly 40 years , stored outdoors] marine ply is glued together w/the same glue as any other exterior plywood , the difference in it is the plys are thinner & the sheet is void-less [stronger but slightly heavier]. there are alternatives such as honeycomb sheet [I think CCR is using it] but again, it may be cost prohibitive. Face it , these cars are babied , seldom if ever left out in the weather , and there are 30 -40 year old examples still cruising around .
dave
You're correct except on the weight aspect and then you are correct with some variables. I know from boat building that baltic birch is extremely heavy, although it's not the best boat building material either despite wide spread use. Meranti (mahogany) ply is about on par with construction materials in terms of weight, just a lot stronger in which case you could, if you wanted, use a thinner ply and get the same strength with less weight. Another very good option from the boat building realm is Okume plywood and it is very light weight yet reasonably strong. It's not as strong as meranti, but it is much lighter and still better than construction materials. If you want to shave some weight off your ride you could do a laminate with biaxial glass, epoxy and okume and have super strong and almost (but not quite) as light as foam core.
The only reason I see to use construction materials is the convenience factor of having a local store to buy it from. It's really hard to argue cost when you look at the overall cost of the car. Since I also build boats I'll use Okume and epoxy with biaxial glass just because I'll have it on hand. I'll rest easy knowing it will outlive me and the extra $50 or so won't matter by time the rubber is burning on the road
That's my opinion, we all have them
I have a few reasons for focusing on the composite material rather than the plywood options. The first is that a big part of my income for several years came from replacing plywood floors in travel trailers and plywood decks on pontoon boats. There may well be plywood products that will hold up, but I never found one that I was really happy with. But that was 30 years ago <shrug>
Next, unfortunately this car will be out in the weather...under a car cover. We have no garage, and nowhere to put one. My workshop is a small shed, and this thing will be built and live in the driveway.
Then there is weight. This car will have a small V6 for power, and every bit of weight I can shave will be a plus.
With the Coosa I can get a 3/4" 32x48 sheet for around $110 plus UPS shipping...to me well worth it to save 30% in weight and to eliminate any moisture worries. What I do not know is if the stuff is actually as structurally sound as a comparable thickness of plywood, as they claim. The good thing is I have a lot of time before it will be purchase time, and maybe by then there will be an even better option.