Hello Aaron,
I am new to wood/canvas building as well but I have built a couple strippers and re-glassed others. I am in the process of restoring my first W/C canoe and getting all the materials together to build a W/C canoe.
I shouldn't say I will "never again" but if it comes to it, I would VERY reluctantly build another stripper/epoxy canoe. I found it expensive, messy, toxic ( I developed a nasty allergy to the epoxy hardener), expensive, time consuming (mostly sitting around waiting for glue or epoxy to harden), tedious (I have never done soooo much sanding in all my 20 odd years as a wood worker), and ah, did I mention expensive? I found that the cost of the fiberglass and epoxy alone cost more than all the materials together needed to complete a similar size W/C (meaning the cost of the materials for the actual canoe not including the form). With the cost of the solid form being the most costly item in W/C construction things could even out a little but if you plan on building more than one of your design then that will quickly change in favor of the wood/canvas canoes.
The major advantage that I can see to stripper style building is the ease with which one can build an endless variety of canoes. Once the strong back is made you have a base upon which to build and customize your canoes at will. For the cost of a couple sheets of plywood and a day’s work you can have another shape. Or you can lengthen or shorten your shape simply by where you place the stations. This might be something not so easy to do with wood/canvas construction. However, I have read of some who have found ways to manipulate what comes off the mold. But having limited experience I cannot speak to that.
The other way of building a W/C canoe which you mentioned is on what is called an “Open Form”. I am not very familiar with it but it seems like it might be an option to look into. I know Alex at Stewart River teaches it in his classes.
http://www.stewartriver.com/classes.html
To me it looks like half way between stripper and W/C but as I said I have limited knowledge of this style so I’d contact Alex for more info.
One other thing I should mention in case you don’t already know is: I find that the stripper canoe is more akin in feel to a fiberglass canoe (which it really is, a composite fiberglass/wood core) than a wood/canvas canoe. Some find that important.
I cannot say the cedar strip/epoxy experience has been all bad because there were many excellent moments along the way and I do have a canoe or two I can be proud of. Many people find this style of building very satisfying as you can see by looking at this excellent site
http://www.bearmountainboats.com/index.htm
