Mike,
Ah wonderful Winnipeg. The nicest big city on the continent. I think, I spent a week there one night. And I thank your fine municipality for a very wonderful time. Guess I'm dating myself when I say I saw a small Rock'n Roll band playing a local pub. They were called Rush. Now when I stopped in I was custom cutter who had started making right hand turns in Wheat fields in Texas and well by the time I got to Winnipeg.... well I wasn't looking for Okeme Mostly we drove around in right handed circles just to unwind. Gosh everyone was so darn friendly! Nice place!

Well given that your driving around in circles in Winnepeg looking for wood....Here are some thoughts. Getting something with a little rot reisistance is really worth your trouble. It doesn't have to be one of the best. A local made conifer based skin would do.

You probobly could order a sheet or two from one of the suppliers in the back of wooden boat magazine or from one of the strip rippers. They could cut it to manageable lengths to make shipping easier. Or you could go with one of the pre cut kits. One of my thoughts would be if you have a friend at a port town have them look around and send you what you want in use able cut down pieces.
Finally look around in old pallet dumps. Its not unussual to find pallets made with Okome

Good luck
!RUSS