My experience has been that 80% of the work is in building the blank. Either by glueing up slices like SharkCountry, preshaping a core and glueing on foam or wood rail bands, preshape EPS core and add 6mm dense foam wrap; shaping more finished and glue on veneers, etc.
Hardest things for me are to get veneer to match complex curves in the top deck nose (deck dome, nose kick and curve down to rails) - wood softener; cutting rail bands to rail rocker so that they are pre-curved and you don’t have 3-D bending to do when attaching (I use paper templates); and blending the veneers into the rails without a lot of filler.
I’m back to “disposable” boards for quicker turnaround and because I have a massive block of 2lb EPS in the shed. Stringerless hotwired EPS glassed with at least 18oz wrapping the rails.