It has begun.

[AlanWS]

Good luck on getting the price down to $100. I made one for under $100, but it was in about 1976, I used polyester instead of epoxy, and about 30 of us bought the wood, glass, and resin as a group.

Epoxy is superior, but polyester is not too bad: that canoe is still in fine shape. If you don't have money for varnish, it's useful to know that epoxy needs the UV protection more than does polyester. Resins are expensive, and this place has the lowest prices I've seen: http://www.uscomposites.com/resins.html .

I agree with most on the butt joints, but will comment that one situation where a pre-scarfed joint will help is where you have a significant curve, and the continuous strip makes it easier to keep the shape fair.

If you are trying to minimize cost, bead and flute joints take more wood than simply bevelling to fit with a handplane as you go. It is much easier to do than it sounds, though not for everyone.

Thinner glass cloth saves only a little on price, but it also diminishes the amount of resin needed, contributing to a further reduction in weight and price. If you simply don't fill the weave, your hull will not be as smooth, but you lose little or no strength and save on resin. A trick used with stitch and glue boats is to wetout glass with resin, cover it with a plastic film, roll out the surface, and peel the film off after cure to leave a smooth surface that needs no more resin, and very little sanding. Make sure the film does not stick, is strong enough to pull off intact, and does not leave contamination. The real problem with a woodstrip canoe is that the compound curves make a film less likely to lie flat.

[davidb54321]

itfitz,

The bead & cove will keep things lined up IF all the planks you rip are the same width and thickness. If not, more problems will show up. Take all the time you need to ensure your saw and router are set up properly. It will save you a lot of grief later on.