I first tried using a piece of the 1/8" maple plywood that I had
used for the deck. I couldn't get it to bend to the contour of
the cockpit without breaking. I called a local hardwood supplier
and asked for "bendable plywood" and they knew what I was talking
about. The grain in the face plies runs across the width rather
than down the length. In fact the store said it's sold as a "8'x4'"
sheet instead of a "4'x8'." I don't know about the core. I'd think that
you'd need the core running the other direction, otherwise you'd
have all the grain in the entire sheet going the same way and I
think it'd break if bent that way.

The bendable plywood was amazingly bendable. I brought it home
by rolling the 4'x8' sheet into a tube 4' long and about 2' in
diameter and put it in the back of my car.

Chris