I agree that canoes are a lot easier to build than most kayaks. If it is meant to be used mostly as a solo paddle with one small passenger then choose a solo design. Most canoe designs are intended for inland use on lakes and rivers. I find the average canoe has far too much windage and capacity for solo use, they have lots of space for tripping that's wasted if that's not what it is used for. As John noted the seating is optimized for two-up, but if you are building the boat you can put the seats where you need them.

Personally I favor the Wee Lassie type with kayak style seating and double bladed paddle; there are several designs out there, also the Rob Roy style with partial decking, several variants of these old but good designs in ply or strip, these days they are suitably stretched to accommodate today's larger paddler.

Not sure I personally would want to do another stripper - I found it time-consuming and fiddly, a plywood boat is faster to build and probably tougher, even without glassing which is a pain IMHO.