MDO for bulkhead

I am in the process of rebuilding a 24' Glasply from the 80's.
It has turned into quite a project, recently we raised the hardtop up by building new aluminum window frames. Its a good modification but ultimately we need to build a new Alaskan style rear bulkhead.
This is what the original looked like,



And what it looks like now,


Its a fishing boat and a fun project, still trying to do things efficiently and have them durable.
The original bulkhead material has some type of thin laminate HPL over what may have been MDO as all the interior wood had the same laminate on one surface and the backside was MDO. I was amazed at how well everything lasted.

In any case my thoughts are to use double sided MDO and paint with some good paint. We can seal the edges and keep them "stood off" the bottom slightly so less tendency to wick water. We will have a couple of small joints over the door and may use a batten to cover the joint.

How durable will this be.....? am I overthinking this......? There are signs all over the place that have been out in the weather for years. This boat will not be stored in the salt water. thanks.........!

 

Why not.

Mdo is a bit heavy and is Mechanicaly inferior the marine ply , but its also, available , cheap, durable and easy to work with. Id give it a go. The components you will be building arent structural. Give it a good coat of sealer, paint, epoxy or whatever and you should be ok