You're right, scarfing sucks, don't let anyone tell you any different. Use butt joints spliced with glass tape instead. There IS a $109 attachment for a Makita power planer availabe from John Henry: scarffer@bellsouth.net. He may be a little slow responding...

John

> I am building a San Javier Single, my first boat. For some reason scarf
> joints scare the hell out of me. I can picture my kayak getting samller
> and smaller from trimming off screwed up scarf joints and starting over or
> recutting panels. Has anyone ever used an electric planer or beltsander?
> I've heard of a power saw attachment but my reading source didn't specify
> if it was for a Skil Saw or a table saw.