Zski-

I believe the Sawyer Cruiser is an asymmetrical design.

I have an old Sawyer 222 in my stable, a fast, stable, seaworthy boat that can carry a ton of gear. Despite the weight (over 80#) it is still my all time favorite tripping hull. This design is unbelievable in rough water, the only flaw in the boat is it's a little wide in the bow for small paddlers. If you like the way your cruiser handles try to find a 222 to model your stripper on.

i stand co-rected. the cruiser IS an asymmetrical design. (and it's red too)
I also picked up an X-17 2 years ago, but there have been issues with it.

My stripper is also a Bear Mountain design (17'6" "Redbird"), from the book Canoecraft. Here's a POD of it from last summer:
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It is very fast, and extremely stable in rough water. I too love the stiffness of a stripper compared to the Kevlar rentals I've tried, and at close to 70 lb. the Redbird has the added bonus of giving you a better workout on the portages! (You could cut the weight some if you were careful)

Bear Mountain has a great website and set of message boards. If you're looking at building a stripper, I'm sure that if you ask, the regs there will give you lots of great advice on the pros and cons of each of the BM designs as well as on any construction details where you might have questions.

I have never considered graphite paint on the hull, even though I've been aware of its existence since I built the boat. Cover up all that beautiful cedar? No way! A light sanding and a coat of varnish at the end of the year and the boat looks as good as new.

I don't know those four well enough to comment, but if you go to the Bear Mtn boards and do a search, you will find a lot that isn't in the book. Good luck!

Zski - what weight load do you expect to have in the boat? I hear the Freedom 17' 9" is a bit slower than the 17. By the way, from a previous post of your, the Winisk in my opinion has no tracking problems unloaded. I paddle it solo all the time. It is a big boat though so can be blown around in wind when empty. It also has more rocker than a lot of boat that size so the bow is not as sticky as some, but I think that is a big plus. Way more sea worthy and maneuverable in waves. Now the Freedom 17 is a pretty darn good boat as well and lots of guys use it for tripping. So if you haven't picked one yet, depending on your load, I would look at both those hulls, maybe also the Kipawa.

Moonman.