Great tips.

Cost, is somewhat of a consern however basicly what I was looking for was a list of various types of woods and what qualitys and why they are the best to work with. Weight is of course a consern, but color contrast and the ease of working these strips into the boat are probabally the top of my list.

Although I live in Pennsylvania, I will be getting my wood from Jeffery's in Knoxville Tennesee (865-573-5876) I have a cabnit builder friend in Knoxville and on my last visit I checked out this warehouse. From the moment I steped in the door I began to drool. This place has wood from all 4 corners of the world. I was very impressed to say the least. My friend will be milling the strips then shipping them to me in a piece of PVC pipe. He has all the tools required including a planer, joiner and 3 head shaper and is aware that the wood must be knot free and each stick must be exactly like the next. I will be spending my next visit there working my butt off in his shop but its a fair trade off to have all my strips milled for me and purchased at cost.

I plan on building the Expedition single instead of the Night heron because I live on Lake Erie and the Expedition will store more gear and be easyer to fish from. With my friend milling the strips out of town being sure of getting the correct amounts of the differant kinds of strips will be important.

Expeditin single: (as per building notes)
1400 linear ft 3/4th (900 white cedar, 500 red cedar)
400 linear ft 1/2
150 Vertical Combing Strips (2" long)
50 Combing Lip (1/8x1/2 Ash) (ft)

For those who have built the Expedition does this list seem accurate? Am I missing anything as far as wood goes other than the forms and strong back which I can get local? Does my list have enough extra strips?
Should I have the 1/2in strips in both types of cedar?

A couple more questions:
What woods other than Ash work well for the combing lip?
Would useing hard woods in certian areas help? Such as hard woods where the 2 sections will be joined. (I realize that the epoxy will make the cedar as stong as ever but the hard woods I would think would be more apt to stay true during the striping process. If so what area's?

Useing 3/16th instead of 1/4 in stock. This sounds good and it should cut some down weight some but this will be my first stick built. Will 1/4 in stock be that much more forgiving when it comes down to working with the block planer and random orbit sander? In 4 rooms of my house I have put up tounge and grove cedar (like 1200 Sq ft) So I am very famiular with sanding, cutting and otherwise working with the stuff.

Stapless for the first build? This too much to expect?

Thanks again..

Mike Thomas