Tom,

I was dismayed at the quality of plywood used in the westy. I have seen
baltic birch with better plies than what was used in the van. But I
agree its would be a natural choice for any modifications.

That is, if as I think Jim mentioned, you lived close to Boeing Surplus
and could pick up some cored panel material. I had some honeycomb nomex
cored fiberglass from same that was so stiff and light. I still have
nomex core if I wanted to laminate my own panels. Oh, and a few years
ago, FineWoodworking magazine had an article about using honeycomb
aluminum cored material for custom cabinets in a helicopter. Showed
solutions for joining and installing hardware.

Alistair

'82 westy, diesel converted to gas in '94
http://www.members.shaw.ca/albell/

On 11-Feb-05, at 10:23 AM, bueses wrote:

> Baltic Birch plywood is what Westy used.  It is readily available in
> thicknesses from 1/8" to at least 1 1/4".  It most often comes in 5' x
> 5'
> sheets although you can get 4' x 8' sheets special order.  It has been
> most
> often used in furniture applications & for cabinet drawers, etc.  As an
> architect, I specify it a lot in buildings as a sustainable building
> material for cabinets, wall panels, countertops, furniture, etc. Very
> cool
> stuff, & Westfalia used it way before it was ever popular for other
> uses.
>
> You can get it at specialty hardwood lumber places- I pay about $32 US
> for a
> 5 x 5 x 3/4" thick sheet which has about 13 laminations- thinner
> sheets will
> be less.  The edges are quite nice w/o any edge banding & it does not
> chip,
> weigh as much as particle board or MDF ply.
>
> You can laminate "Formica" or plastic laminate onto it, which is what
> Westy
> did in later campers, although in the early Westy's they used the
> natural
> wood veneer finish.
>
> FWIW,
>
> Tom Buese