A timber rubbing strake looks fabulous on a boat and I put one on an old boat a few years back but it’s better not being the maximum allowable thickness (there is a rule on it) because, if you use teak or iroko or mahogany (I think mine was teak) it is otherwise very difficult to bend it to shape. My advice is do any shaping and glue up any scarfs before fitting it. Doing the shaping reduces the strength of the wood making it easier to bend. And you will find it difficult to glue a scarf on the boat rather than on the bench. I used stainless steel self tappers (well countersunk and fill the holes with plugs of the same material if you – otherwise mix a lot of sawdust in glue and fill them with that) and they did the business. I faired off the strips close to the bow so that they ended about a half inch short. Trying to get the two sides to meet at the bow is, if you get it right, fabulous. If you don’t it looks poor.
I have an old plastic rubbing strip which I removed to reduce the weight of a slightly overweight racing boat. It’s a bit scuffed but otherwise intact and, if one of my local Wayfarer chums doesn’t make up his mind soon to take it, you can have it for the cost of the postage from Dublin, Ireland.