Everyone has their preferences, usually based on personal experience. I built my Hybrid and my Outer Island with beveled strips. I'm building a Cape Ann Expedition Sport using C&B, simply because I decided to Actually Follow The Instructions for a change.
Beveling all those strips may seem intimidating to a first-timer, and C&B may seem like the way to go. I had lots of hand tool experience, and the bevels weren't too difficult, but if you decide to go with bevels, I recommend milling some extra strips to practice on. A few observations:
If you go for beveled strips, you have the option of going thinner than 1/4", as long as they are all the same. If you go for C&B, the strips MUST be at least 1/4". Vaclav recommends milling the C&B strips slightly thicker than 1/4", and I agree-it makes the coves more durable. If your strips are just 1/4", the cove side will be thin and weak. If you are plain-sawing the boards, going a little thicker than 1/4" is easy, but I usually re-saw a 3/4" board in half, plane to thickness, then rip strips. Even with a thin-kerf rip blade, it comes out close.
You will actually need more material when using C&B. A 3/4" strip will not yield 3/4" coverage. Wood isn't the most expensive material in the build, but figure on more "overage" if using C&B.
Another thing I noticed is kind of hard to describe. It seems like the cove-and-bead sometimes wants to pull the strip away from the forms. Maybe others can describe this better?
Fancy Fitting & "Cheater" strips- Its pretty easy to put a bead on the edge of a strip when you have to, but not so easy to do a cove. You may have seen "cheater" strips used to reduce the curves of the bow and stern. These are easy to make with beveled strips, but not so easy with C&B. I did manage them, however, by tapering from the bead side of a strip, then sanding the bead back in, using a piece of coved material as a sanding block.
Fairing And Sanding-Is much less work with Beveled strips, because you won't have to knock all the strips down to a round surface. I had the underside of my O.I's deck ready for fiberglass in