G'day,

I'm 80% into a SnG build and live on the Sunshine Coast 2 hours north of Brisbane.
This kayak is my first build and I went with pacific maple 4mm marine ply bought from 'Boatcraft Pacific' south of Brisbane. They freighted their BoteCote epoxy ,glass cloth and 4 sheets of ply ($43.00 each) and sundry items up here for around $30 freighted - pretty cheap. Rang Mitre 10 about their 4mm ply and they have.
- 4mm Bracing ply $20 - sub standard glues and quality control less than good stuff.
- 4mm exterior ply around $30 - apparently uses similar glue as marine but less quality control for voids/quality of veneers/knots
-Marine ply from other suppliers - quality control to standards - Looked at some Gaboon at Sharps plywood and low quality stuff allround.

The Pacific Maple from Boatcraft is nice material and they recommend it, quality wise, over Gaboon. Like the other guys said, Spent approx $1000 on materials and at least 100hours building I went with quality ply for first build. May consider
cheaper stuff next time for a less expensive, lighter weight (less epoxy/lighter glass) quicker build time kayak - but will be selective with ply and inspect each sheet and do a bend test to listen for cracking sounds.

This kayak has been built tough for trips and rough water so good ply was a good option. Hope it helps.

Here's a link to my build.

Tony
Noosa area