: I can't believe I'm about to say this, but given the price of clear Cedar,
: and the marine grade plywood (here in land-locked Calgary Alberta Canada)
: I may end upbuilding a stripper first after all. At first glance, the
: price looks simillar. I'll have to look closer at price.

You could also rip your cedar into strips and edge glue them to create thin, wide boards which could be cut as if they were plywood, and then used for stitch and glue panels. It is kind of a butcherblock look if you use contrasting grains or colors of wood.

I've posted a few ideas on how to do this already. Perhaps someone can fnd them. the advantages are the looks of a stripper with no need for bead and cove edges, and no need to shape strips to fit. Every strip is a nice rectangle, and you can use short strips, too. . Of course you sand this while it is flat, so you can do the job rapidly. You can apply the fiberglass for the inside of the boat to one side of the butcherblock board you build before you cut out the parts. That adds strength and cuts production time, and resin won't drip or run when you apply it to the flat surface.

: Any estimates on the difference in time to do each? I'm thinking they will
: not be that much diffrent. my first guess is 30hrs faster for a Stich and
: Glue?

Figure about 300 hours for a first time stripper. Stitch and glue will be about half that amount. the big difference is int he amount of time spent fitting strips. A lot of them have to be individually shaped. It may be just 10 minutes here and there, but with dozens of strips the time adds up. With a stitch and glue design you cut your pieces before construction, and assemble these parts. With a stripper you fit each piece as you assemble the boat.

Oh, and have you thought of building a skin on frame kayak? Some designs can be made in a long weekend, some in a long week, and some in the same time as a S&G.

PGJ