strip kayaks have been successfully built from most types of wood. Strength is usually not that much of a consideration because the real strength of the kayak comes from the fiberglass/epoxy/wood sandwhich. The most significant considerations are weight and workability of the wood. Ideally you would like to have a light weight wood like western red cedar. The workability is a question of how hard is it to cut the strips and then sand the wood once you have stripped the boat. Hardwoods are more challenging to work with.

I have heard a number of strip kayak builders being very happy with the results using eastern white cedar. The wood is easy to work. It has been very popular for canoe building over the years. I have also heard that it is slightly heavier than western red cedar but not much. Attached as a link you will find a table which compares the various properties of wood. There are several different types of white cedar but some of them are identical to Western red cedar in weight.

: Hi there, I know I should go through all the messages, but I just have a
: quick question-can eastern cedar be used as well as western or is there a
: fundamental difference between them? (the reason is of course I've found a
: good supplier). Any tips you can give me will be appreciated.