I was inspired by the old wooden Chris Craft boats also and mine was loosely based on their deck design. My thin strips were 1/8" wide and cut using feather boards to hold the strip in place when cutting and a plate board with the circular saw blade raised up through it so no there were no gaps around the saw blade to cause chatter breakage. I never tapered the 1/8" thin strips but would lay a wide strip and a thin strip together and taper the wide strip if needed, then glue the two strips onto the deck.

John