It's actually 3/4" Sandeply Hardwood Plywood. It looks exactly the same as Birch, but is $5 cheaper per sheet. They actually only charged me for one sheet instead of two, so I guess price didn't really matter.RichD wrote:Looks like birch ply, same stuff I had at the shop on Wednesday.

I bought this at home depot in the U.S. and built it in my father-in-laws barn (my wife is American).
http://www.homedepot.com/Lumber-Composi ... ogId=10053
As for saving weight...as you can see we built the base using 5 pieces of wood instead of a solid piece. We also made the bottom of the drawers using 1/4" and same for the "top" of the lower section over the drawers.
With the drawers out, my wife can take it out and put it in on her own. Oh, and I can do it too

This design also allows us to flip the rear bench seat up and behind the captains chairs without removing the drawer system...just incase we have extra gear to bring along.