i built the port/bracing assembly today. i should have used my pocket hole jig, but i was impatient and just glued it and used a finish nailer to hold things together till the glue sets.
in case anyone follows my advice and has lowes/hd cut your sheets down, leave your self some room to square things up. the panel saw at lowes was off quite a bit. Use a square to check the corners and always use a square corner to work off the table saw fence. it sounds obvious, but the out of square amount is not noticeable with the eye...until you are trying to fit things together. at that point it is too late.
i also found out about 95% through my cutting that the birch ply i got was neither 3/4" and not 5/8"...she was 11/16". The plan dimentions only work perfectly for 3/4" material.
i'm going to make some local calls for insulation tomorrow. i see a pretty huge spread between 703 and 705. so, 703 definitely won't do for this build and i should get the 705 or 8lb rockwool, right?