Now this is coming from a guy who painted his truck with a can of paint and a brush.. so take my thoughts on this subject for what they are.
I had very seriously considered using a 4x8 sheet of plywood for the bed in my '46 1/2 ton.. the plan was to use Marine grade plywood and then coat it top and bottom with that brush on bed liner stuff you get from the hardware store (similar to the Rhino Liner stuff)
I ended up using old barn wood to do the job only because I had the old barn wood laying around, and it was free. A 4x8 sheet of Marine grade plywood would have cost another.. I don't know.. maybe $40 or so.
The plywood floor coated with that black bed liner stuff might not look as classy as those high dollar oak beds with the nice shiney strips, but it would be just as functional, and you wouldn't have to worry about the wood when tossing tools, buckets, or gravel in the back.
