This string has led to the costs and effort involved in building a strip small boat. Here's my perspective.

When I built my 16' strip canoe I sent: $58.48 on wood for the strong back and plywood stations; $134.88 on cedar, staples and glue; $485.35 for epoxy, glass cloth, lacquer thinner, foam brushes, sandpaper, varnish; $104.40 on ash for gunwales, yoke and seats, screws and bolts, and plastic caning; and 9 months of steady work weekends and evenings. Notice that boat building is a excuse to buy tools, so they don't count in the cost of the project.

I followed Gilpatrick's book "Building a Strip Canoe" and would recommend following: Don't use water putty it doesn't match (I added aneline dye when mixing). Read Nick's book "The Strip-Built Sea Kayak". Use a major brand epoxy (I used a local supplier, it did not wet-out easily and was motor oil in color). I started out "throwing together" a serviceable canoe and fortunately discovered early on that the cost and time that was going to be invested justified slowing down and making a quality product. I think it came out beautiful, very nice for a first boat.

So, take your time to make an aesthetic well built boat, too much will be invested in it (it also helps the cash flow pains). The ooooo's and ahwwww's will be worth it.