What many forget is ply was the most advanced high tech solution, (and with the correct skills, still is), up till the Kiwi's (Jennifer Julian) started using cores in glass boats.. The US & Europe were at that time using solid glass boats or cold molding.. The impoverished kiwis and Aussies builders could not afford the expensive materials of resin and glass. er But what they did have is many learnt the trade of building Aussie and kiwi WW2 planes. And good supplies of quality ply.


If you look around there are pages and pages of historical documents of well build offshore races built out of ply.. So the answer.. is yes a 8.5 meter cat could be built from ply if the builder has a good skill set and ply is available.. Its no longer as available as in the 70s and quality has become an issue as well..