Mike:
Many great responses for some very experienced builders. Now from a novice. I used a variety of wood from WRC to mahogany, redwood, pine, and walnut. The pine took a little more effort (and a very sharp plane) to keep from chattering. The same with walnut. But luckily I didn't have much. Ther were mostly accents.

Also being a first time builder I had concerns about staples (or not to staple). I could not imaging spending that amount of work and have rings of staple holes around the kayak every foot of it's length. I had to use about a dozen staples around the ends of the pointy bow and stern and I feel they are VERY noticable and glad I elected to go the stapleless method. The obvious downfall is the drying time for strips before the next can be attached. And I did my in the winter! One strip on each side a day and it took almost 5 months for my double. If you get started yet this summer you should be able to put 3 - 4 rows on each side per day depending on your work schedule. I used the c-shaped plywood method with the 1/4' dowels to attach them to the forms with very good success.

Good luck on your project

DAVE