When looking for a blade, look for a thin kerf (as said before due to the less wood waste) but also look for one more geared toward ripping (vs. cross cuts). The reason for this is there are fewer teeth, therefore less friction. True, the wood will not be quite as smooth coming out, but in building by boat I found that to be minimal if you use infeed and outfeed rollers. Most of the issues I had with the surfaces being rough was due to errors I made when feeding the wood. You could tell your wife that to make a nice boat you need to buy a PLANER to plane the wood after you rip it. After this project you could be very close to having your woodworking shop fitted out nicely.

The blade I bought was a Freud, thin kerf, rip cut blade for maybe $18, but I got it during a GREAT sale.

Other advice when ripping is use a respirator dust mask. I used that in conjuction with my DC system and a home made air filter. Since you just got a table saw, it doesn't sound like you do alot of woodworking yet, so the DC system and air filter are probably not in your shop yet. At least use a good respirator dust mask (not one of those paper "feel good" masks). If you decide to rip your strips outside, don't do it on the lawn without putting a tarp down first because cedar and redwood do a good job of killing the grass (a friend did that and had a nice brown spot for the summer).

Good luck.