It will be interesting to see the result.

I've done contruction and repairs on both boats and airplanes in the past. I have to admit that I kind of treat aluminum like a very uniform hardwoood - routing panels works about the same. Just the 'dust' is more annoying in aluminum.

If you're looking to build really stiff but light panels you could look into using a honeycome core. If you hunt down 3-M's website they have a product called Scotch Weld. Works well for glueing wing skins on airplanes and should work fine joining a hull & deck.