The standard work on boatbuilding for us is "The Gougeon brothers on boat construction". It's a very good read if you are interested in boatbuilding, wood and epoxy.
One can also build a one-off foam/glass/carbon/kevlar. Look at Ian Farriers site for more info about this.
Then you have the Derek Kelsall system (KSS), which can be downsized to one-off beachcats.
I got starte by following plans and learning by my mistakes when (mis)interpreting the plans.