On the subject of hull material, I believe there is a composite that stands above the usual fiberglass... That is cold molded marine plywood with epoxy... This is a marvelous composite.. Significantly lighter and stronger than fiberglass for the same thickness.. Easy to work with as mirror finish molds are not required... Kurt Hughes has in my opinion the best method of simple molds for displacement hulls that will produce a fair hull for the absolute minimum in man hours and materials cost... The wood is encapsulated in fiberglass/resin inside and out, and has resin between the layers of plywood... Remember this is real epoxy, not your vinyl ester pop out toys the manufacturers all love... Now, to be fair, Hughes works with catamaran hulls and many of you find that type of boat to be objectionable for various reasons... For those folks we have Sam Devlin and his cold molded Sockeye 45 series, of which he will pound out one for you, finely finished to custom furniture standards, for a mere $800K, or so... So, for my passagemaker I vote cold molded marine plywood encapsulated in fiberglass... denny / k8do