Why 1/8 inch luan? Just curious. The added weight of 1/4 inch/4mm isn't that much and you get increased strength and stiffness. I'm fortunate living here in the Northwest, but you can get okume for under $40 a sheet. My first boat took 2 1/3 sheets, and I suppose I could have done it with two sheets of okume and the third of luan or marine ply for the bulkheads, hip braces, hatch lips etc. But with all that said, you're building a wood boat. That's awesome! Be prepared to enjoy it, and to answer a bunch of questions from admiring folks who are impressed. I put together a little video of building and paddling my boat. It's on Eric Shade's (Nick's Brother) Shearwater Boats page. Follow the link to the Shearwater Builders gallery.
: Bill,
: I built that boat as my first project also, using Home Depot luan. It was
: easy to work with and in at least one spot it was not flexible enough (you
: can see that area by the arrow shaped workaround I used) so I personally
: would not apply a layer of glass prior to stitching the panels together in
: the cradles, it just isn't necessary. My boat is very strong and it was
: built exactly like the article but with luan in lieu of Okoume. I linked
: my site below where you can find some building pictures. I filleted all
: joints, used tape inside and out, clothed the interior of the cockpit area
: and clothed the entire exterior. The bulkheads are filleted and taped in
: place but the surface of the bulkheads are just coated with unthickened
: epoxy. The coaming riser and lip are filleted and fully clothed. Good luck
: with the project and have a blast!

: --Tony

: PS: I made one big assumption when I built my boat and that was that luan
: would look ugly and that my workmanship would be so horrible that I would
: need to paint the boat anyway. Now, I didn't do the fine quality work I've
: seen on this site but I now realize that if I had paid closer mind to my
: luan I could have had a much better looking boat to leave in a clear,
: natural state. My neighbor built a luan canoe and used a very light luan
: and he was very meticulous with it. His canoe is very nice looking. You
: can find a picture of it on the Pocaty link at the very bottom of my page.