My 14.5 foot canoe cost me $60 for red cedar boards, and I didn't use all of them. figure $45 for the boat and $15 left over for the next project. I got 8' and 10' deck planks on sale. 5/4 thickness and with plenty of knots--which I left in. They add character to the looks of the boat, but they are nasty areas to sand. Clear wood would have cost me 4 times as much. Cutting out the knots would have given me clear wood, and I would have used all the $60 worth I had. In retrospect, I should have cut out the knots and saved the cussing on my sanding. (I hate sanding).

Glass and resin and tools for measuring, mixing and spreading, were just over $200. A sheet of plywood for the forms, red oak for the gunwales and decks, and miscellaneous hardware and sandpaper brought the hull cost to about $350. In addition I had the 2x10's for the strongback. They were $40--and way thicker and longer than I really needed--but that was what the plans called for.

After looking at how pretty the holl was I broke down and splurged on pre-caned seats (bought 3, used two for this project) and a prefinished ash thwart. Another $70 spent, but about $50 of that put into this boat. Total for just the canoe: about $400 spent over two summers. Built the hull one summer, glassed it the next summer.

While kayaks have both hull and deck to strip, they are much narrower than most canoes, and use about the same number, or fewer strips. Wood costs have gone up a bit since I built the canoe, but epoxy and fiberglass fabric is actually cheaper to find now that I know where to look for deals.

Many modern kayak designs have the forms spaced a foot apart. Older designs used fewer forms and placed them farther apart. That lowers the costs for plywood for forms with certain older designs. And it takes less time to mak fewer forms.

PGJ