Trying to strip the glass / epoxy off of plywood is disaster.

Rather than just using paint, you can use a stained varnish. Any oil base stain can be mixed with varnish and then you would uphold the wood grain look rather than a solid paint. You can give it a try and mix a mahogany stain with exterior / marine varnish. The beauty is that if you don't like it just sand and paint or varnish or whatever your choose.