Cost of building materials to make boat - or just buy one

Every time I turn around I need a new material to make something with and although I enjoy working with casting materials like epoxy, plasters and cements the cost keep adding up. I've brought down much of my cost of goods to a reasonable level, but if I want to take on a new project, like building the composite construction Feather canoe I am going to have to purchase some high grade epoxy. It's really expensive stuff, especially the West Systems epoxy. As an alternative I have started looking at used boats for sale on Craigslist and it is much cheaper to just buy a boat that is already made. The more I look the more I start getting attached to different types of boats and designs, losing site of the concept that all I wanted to do was build a canoe. Did I really just want to build a canoe? Not likely, I wanted to get out on the water. If I start a canoe building project then I am going to be sitting around all summer making some funky thing that most likely won't look like the pictures. I like the idea, but if it is going to be about getting on the water, then I have to just buy a boat or work on the Cal 20 I already have in the water. I have found that I am attracted to early 1960's fiberglass hulls like the Cal 20 because they don't seem to leak and many of them sell for cheap prices. The thickness of the polyester that was used seems to be the key as the boat builders back then didn't know how thick to build them to last, so they built them thick. The point of this is that with the money I save by not buying Epoxy I can go out and buy a really thick fiberglass hull sailboat and get on the water instead of making a crappy boat in my backyard.