Plywood is an inherently stiff material. Strips aren't. What makes a glass/epoxy/strip laminate stiff is the distance between the layers of glass. A wider spacing gives a more robust hull. So you are giving up some strength and stiffness by using thinner strips. It's up to you to determine how much strength is needed to survive the surf off Tybee Island. Personally, I favor lighter hulls because they make paddling easier. But since the surf will be your motor what difference does a few pounds make?
In my experience professionally made strips go from expensive to very expensive. And the idea of paying the freight and then turning some of those strips into sawdust fills me with dread.
Then there is the problem of power planing very small amounts off very thin strips of wood. A lot of power planers "snipe". They cut more off the ends of a board than in the middle. It happens because the table design is not first rate. Before I would commit to this plan I would do some test strips with the machine you intend to use.
Northern white Cedar is an arborvitae. It grows slowly, never gets all that big and good trees are something special. All the premium NWC,available today comes from Eastern Canada. The NWC that's affordable is not premium stock. Atlantic White Cedar grows up and down the Atlantic Coast and is an affordible but heavier alternative. As is Western Red Cedar.

: After five years of closet coveting I finally ordered and received
: a set of Shooting Star plans. This is my first stripper but my
: seventh boat to include a reasonably complex glued lapstrake
: sailboat project I finished last summer. I have built from kits,
: plans and not much more than a drawing fueled by lots of
: encouragement from web builders.

: I want to build a very light Shooting Star for surfing the crazed
: waters of the Triangle off Tybee Island, GA. My plan is to use
: 3/16" Northern white cedar strips but cant seem to find a
: supplier even after doing a pretty thorough search. I really
: don't want to rip my own strips. Rather SWMBO would appreciate
: me not ripping my own strips. It's a time/mess lets keep the
: nice lady who indulges me happy thing. I tend to get lost in my
: builds to the detriment of the family.

: I was considering ordering 1/4" bead and cove strips and
: reducing them to 3/16" by taking 1/32" from each side
: of the strip with a friends thickness planer. Would the bead and
: cove still mate well? Is the weight difference of the finished
: boat just not that great to substantiate the extra effort?

: Additionally I have used 3.25 oz glass from RAKA on Nick's surf
: kayak and Eric's double baidarka with great success. But these
: are both S&G boats. Is 3.25 oz glass heavy enough for strip
: building or should I stick with 4 oz s glass? We pretty much
: don't have rocks here but we do have lots of oysters and
: collisions with other surfers on occasion.

: Jim