Derek, I think you'll find that, pound for pound, plywood is one the strongest materials there is, and it may be that it is the strongest material that is generally be used as a boatbuilding material. Have no doubt in your mind about the strength of a stitch-and-glue (or any kind of) wooden kayak in rough water. My stitch-and-glue CLC survived being run over by a powerboat, with a big chunk taken out of the stern hull by the boat's prop (I survived too!), and I repaired it in a couple days. Not too many fiberglass boats, with or without carbon or Kevlar, would have fared nearly as well.