Just want to state the obvious on regards ply use in construction.
Everybody loves ply. It is such a neat simple material. So easy to use and super strong.
We are familiar with it and have had lots of fun riding skateboards, building skateboard ramps and such like.
It is not really smelly or harmful in lower amounts of cutting.
I can see that it still the preferred material for lots of uses. For boat building i would still recommend it for doing your first rowing and sailing dinghy and kayak. This is a worthwhile project and enjoyable in also learning your basic woodworking skills.
And on the topic i would suggest that building and learning to sail a small dinghy is still something to do as there are skills that you would not gain from only sailing a proa, for instance tacking.
That being said, anything after that initial project should really only be an HP. And since you've tried your hand at wood, then you should do a small HP with Int Fus as practice, and continue with that technique for all subsequent bigger boats.

Doug