Mike,

I just finished a stapleless Freedom 17 cedar strip canoe and used regular 2" wide masking tape for most of it. There was no wood tear out or residue when pulling the tape off, it held the strips tight against each other while the glue dried and cost about 1/3 the price of the 2" plastic tape. I was able to use the same strip of masking tape for about 5 cedar strips before it got ragged out and had to be replaced. The plastic packing tape would lose it's gripping power after 2 strips.

I put the strips together cove-up and had to use a 1/4" dowel under the tape to protect the cove edges. The rest of the construction was straight forward.

Try it out.

Norman in MS