Interesting. What do you think the strength tradeoff will be? Probably does not have the compression strength of okoume, and the sheer strength to the fiberglass may be less.

You are right on both counts. The Wood Handbook and the New Zealand Farm Forestry Association indicate paulownia compression and shear properties are around 20% or so less than okume, but they are a lot better than balsa. Since the folks using paulownia for strip boats seem satisfied with the durability, it seems plywood is a good bet.

A friend of mine has a paulownia surfboard replica of a Hawaiian board in the Bishop Museum - no glass, around 1 inch thick. He surfs and kite boards with it.

Sam