Chris,
Answer from this shop is yes and no. I am a confirmed rock garden/boomer field paddler. Its fun and stregth defiantly count in that realm. So I factor that into my boats, and thus boats are ussually a bit heavier.

However, at some point strength becomes academic. I have a herring bone pattern on the bottom of my GE and its seen a lot of rock. Longer strips are more fexible less likely to be stoved in then shorter strips. So I added an extra interior layer of #6 in the center.

On the same boat I built a raised shield, with lots of grooves all pedistaled on an arch. Looked cool but Its also the part of the boat I sit on. Looked cool but fragile. Adding to it the strips were set in a way that made it basically like scoring an arch. Because of the way it was build It wasn't something I could glass monolithicly. STripping hte grooves and then the bumps.
Nick was kind enough to work with me endlessly on a glassing schedule.

I needed to add strength to the arch BUt didn't want to add a weight. The compromise was to build 2 crossed hatched fiber glass ribs inchan half wide undergirding the area totaling 22 in fiber weight.

Other patterns on decks etc, don't need extra strength of additional covering or backing. For the most part a boat going through the water gouging the occasional rock etc is going to be just fine. No matter how the strips are put in.

At its upper limits boat strength at some point becomes academic I think. When I see cabon fiber boats that can take nearly anything. I sort of can't help but remember that the weakest link is the human body i nthe cockpit that if exposed the same force, wouldn't survive.

I think the white water gang has a whole nother baly wick and when baots start seeing at kind of force applied to them other building methods are preferable.

For ocean river canoeing etc, touring even in the very rough stuff. Strip stuff, even the hacked up fancy design stuff works well. However, I think your assumption is sage though in considering trading wood strength for glass strength over extended jointing.

!RUSS