: Glenn
i cut and bead/coved my strips several months ago. the next boat i build i would surely spend the time, money, whatever to plane the strips to the same width....i'm slowly learning that in woodworkiing, the better the material is(same size, width....) when you start, the better the finished product. if two strips are different thickness, when you would doo a flat part---they would not match. and if you are putting two strips together, scarfing, they do need to be the same thickness.
the time you spend shows up in the end.
God bless your efforts !