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I have the one side strut pad off and all cleaned up
What a mess !!!
Is there any composite that will do or stick with plywood as per building tips section

Douglas Fir marine plywood is king in this situation... What you're looking for is compression strength that will spread the load of the strut being forced up through the hull and plywood will do that. Coosa Board, Divinycell, Aerex, etc are simply light weight core materials, (fine for bulkheads and decks). The alternative would be lay up an inch of solid fiberglass, (about 30 layers of 1708 biaxle).

Make up some samples and do a ballistics test using a .45 or .357 cal....

CaptPatrick wrote:Douglas Fir marine plywood

Make up some samples and do a ballistics test using a .45 or .357 cal....

Capt. Pat

LOL

This is NJ I can see the headlines now as the drag Tom out of his shop in Handcuffs for killing a sheet of Plywood.

Yup, Tony, I forgot that you Yankee boys are hog tied up there... Down here we just step out on the deck and wail into the side yard. Last time Bruce was here we killed a bunch of cactus with an old lever action cowboy Winchester.

tom i used the capt. design but built up 1/2" of layers of biax\ epoxy before the epoxy plywood sandwich.had to use 8" silicon bronze bolts with OEM. bronze backing plate.

i use a half tube in lay up for water flow in bilge at very bottom edge.

Mc master Carr has a product called green board or heavy board. It's perfect for strut backing and 100% phenolic. While ply will get the job done and is cheaper this stuff is my go to form now on forward. A friend of mine told me about it when they built the Bayliss he runs.

JP,

You're right about using solid plate over plywood if money isn't an issue. I think that the best from McMaster would be their Ultra-Impact-Resistant Garolite (E-Glass). Check it out...