Ed has it right. Epoxy is a lot stronger than polyester, it has very
little odor, and by mail is only a bit more expensive than fiberglass
resin at the parts store. I bought a gallon and a half of (very slow)
epoxy from www.mrfiberglass.com for about $65. (Just a satisfied
customer. There are lots of other dealers out there.)

Kevlar is stronger than fiberglass, less expensive than carbon fiber,
but doesn't sand well. In any event $35 for a yard of carbon fiber
doesn't seem an insurmountable price to pay.

If you've never worked with fiberglass/Kevlar/carbon fiber, you may
want to try something easy first. Even a simple shape like a cylinder
can be a lot of work. I build high-power rockets and now know several
ways to do it wrong..... :-(

Best -- Terry