Core Substitute

[Dan]

Hello Everyone. I am going to be re-coring the coach sides of my Catalina Sailboat soon. The original core is 1/4" plywood. The glue that was used in the making of this plywod was not marine stuff and the glue has desolved. I have thin strips of wood insteaad of plywood for a core. I have the re-coring process figured out, in my head anyway. What I would like to do, is use something for the core material other than wood. Can the plywood be substituted with one of the foam coring materials that are now available?
Obviously the strength will have to be the same or better, but a reduction in weight can't hurt right?
What do you all think about this.

[Tim]

You can recore using one of a wide variety of foam products (available through composite wholesalers and some retailers), or with Nida-Core extruded plastic honeycomb. Just choose a material of the same thickness as the original core, and install it carefully with epoxy.