I list quite a few wood and tools sources here - http://www.laughingloon.com/links.html

But, before you head out to look for wood consider this.....

Selecting Wood
Traditionally, strip builders have gone to lumber yards looking for wide boards with a finished thickness of 3/4", or they buy rough sawn boards and run them through a thickness planer to make a 3/4” thick board. Then strips for building are ripped off the edge of these 3/4" thick boards.

There are a number of problems with this method.

At the lumber yard, you never know what lengths and thicknesses of boards will be available. If you limit your choice to 3/4" thick boards you may have very few options for size, color and grain.

Ripping individual strips off the edge of a 20' long 8" wide board is challenging. Large heavy boards are hard to handle and difficult to keep firmly pressed against the saw fence, which will lead to uneven strip thickness.

The edge of this wide board gives you only a hint of the color and grain pattern your finished boat will display. You don't have control or a real idea of what the wood will look like on your finished boat.

These are all big disadvantages of this traditional approach to cutting strips.

A New Approach
My solution to these problems.

First select boards for the grain and color on the broad width of the board. ➤ Ignore board thickness.

This allows you to see the wood grain and have an idea of how it will look on the boat. It allows you to concentrate on wood beauty and not board thickness.

Then cut the wide board face into 3/4” widths.

Next turn these 3/4" widths on their side and cut 3/16” thick strips.

Repeatedly handling one large board is difficult as you rip strips off one edge and can lead to irregular strip thicknesses.
Taking broad boards and ripping them into 3/4” widths first, makes handling these 3/4” pieces easy as you rip 3/16” strips off of them.

Western red cedar comes in 3/4” (5/8”) 5/4 (1”) and 2x (1-1/2”) thicknesses. Cut all those boards to 3/4” widths off the broad board surface. Then the number of 3/16” strips per 3/4" piece will be your only variable.

Not many places on your boat require strip widths narrower than 3/4”. But if you had a boat design with a sharper, tighter, bend around the bilge you must use 5/8 or even 1/2” wide strips to make it easier to strip. Also, if you have a design with upswept stems like a canoe, you can bend narrow strips up much easier.

Finally, cut a 3˚ bevel on one edge of each strip on the table saw. Mark the beveled edge with a pencil mark. This bevel will allow you to strip 90% of the boat without having to do a rolling bevel.

Good luck!

Rob