west marine ? what does west marine have to do with "west system epoxy" ? are you under the assumption,west marine,IS west systems epoxy ? if that's the case,you need to look a little further into that...
http://www.westsystem.com/ss/
plywood most definatley needs to be kept dry-allow a plywood core to get wet-end result is dry rotting and delamination-painting the wood-tell me,what does that do ? keeps water off the wood,right ? plywood,it usually rots and wicks water via the end grain,the reason the end grain needs to be sealed-and sealed properly,with an epoxy based product...fresh water,as in rain water,is the worst...
"roughing up" wood before glassing does nothing to increase the absorbtion rate of a polyester based resin,polyester resin used on a wood surface,it provides a surface bond-the reason the fiberglass skin can easily be removed from the wooden core-when recoring hatches,decks,transoms,etc-try the same thing with an expoy resin as the lamination mix-the results will be much different..."roughing up" a surface is needed,it gives the products something to "bite" to...ever try painting a slick smooth surface ? polyester based resins will cure much quicker,than epoxy based products-which usually require a full 8hrs cure time-time to "soak" into a pourous surface,such as wood.
"your stuff",i use it,i do not manufacture it...price ? well,one transom core-a high density foam composite-for a 29 sea swirl striper-michigan composites mfg'd the core,it cost $130,plus shipping-i ordered the core,cut to fit...$130 for a transom core,not bad...that was a new 290 with the alaska package ,twin 250 yamaha's,the boat ran down a dredge pipe,at a very high rate of speed-fast enough to have the stbd engine shear the tilt piston,allowing the engine to fly upwards,and crush the cowling...the transom core was broken through-the drain tubes in the transom were popped out-clearly one hell of a hit,the engines stayed on the boat...i had one job-transom core,and stringers,on a boat with a 9'4" beam,the lumber bill-2 sheets of 5'x10' 3/4" and a single sheet of 1/2" 5'x10,cost almost $600-all marine grade...standard sheets are 4'x8'...i don't think lowes sells marine grade ply...
i'm not saying there's anything wrong with wood,i've used alot of wood,no problems.i'm just surprised to see no one using composites...