The stripping pattern will effect the strength. But the majority of the strength comes from the glass. The glass takes most of the load along the surface while the wood is primarily in compression between the two layers of glass. In otherwords, the glass serves primarily to keep the glass layers apart. Because of this, as long as there is wood there to keep the glass layers separated, the boat will have most of its strength. This is true even if the wood has funky joints due to a pattern.

However, I don't usually get to fancy on the bottom. The wood does contribute strength over and above the strength of the glass and I don't see much point in compromising this strength on the bottom where no one will see fancy stripping anyway.

: In the several years that I have been accessing the wealth of information on
: this board I have seen endless discussions pertaining to strenght and
: durability. These discussions included layup technique, glass weight and
: number of layers, strip thickness and most other possible variables. The
: one thing I have not really seen was discussions pertaining to strength of
: strip patterns on hulls and decks.

: It seems logical that a one peice strip with glass on both sides would be
: stronger than two peices of strip but jointed with the same layup of glass
: on both sides.

: I was wondering if builders of kayaks with these decorative strip patterns
: (especially on the hull) add any additional reinforcement to their layups
: to account for any strength defeciancies because of the strip patterns.