Hi Chris,

I had the same problem finding good lengths that wouldn't cost a fortune. I used Paul Jacobson's idea and scarfed some full width boards together. See a small web page of mine on the process http://inmanshomeinspection.com/scarf.htm Also, see Paul's post link below. Regarding knots, I ignored them and then after ripping strips I broke the strips at the knots so I wouldn't use them later. You still end up with many full length strips.
I ended up just butting together most of my strips and not using full length.

Robert
: I live in Indiana, and I cannot find any cedar boards over 16', and my kayak
: will be 17' long. I know you can join strips together that do not run the
: entire length of the boat, but has anyone built a boat with all shorter
: strips, and no strips running the entire length. Also, when you join
: strips, do you have to join them at one of the forms? Bear with me, I have
: one more question. All of the cedar boards that I have seen are full of
: knots. I couldn't find one board that was free of knots, including 8'
: boards. Do I have to rip the wood, and then cut of the knots, making the
: boards even shorter? Thanks for any info.