: The quick answer is don’t use a plane.

I understand Rob's cautions about using a plane and even agree with him to some extent, but in the interest of being pointlessly argumentative I will defend the plane.

Planing is tricky. (interesting start for a defense) If you have not planed before you will probably be discouraged the first time you try, but planing is one of the most basic operations to woodworking. It is a skill well worth learning. Building a boat you have a broad stretch of wood which needs to be smoothed out. This is exactly what a plane does best. Now is your chance to learn a skill which will serve you well in a wide variety of future woodworking projects. Besides once you learn it planing is fun.

Scraping will work very well, but like planing you need to learn how to do it in order to do it effectively. Poor technique and/or a dull scraper can be make a mess just as surely as a dull, poorly handled plane. Like a plane a scraper can chatter and tear, particularly on softwoods such as pine and cedar. Where it has an advantage is a scraper is easier to sharpen, because you can use a cheap file instead of a fancy stone. But you can sharped a scraper poorly and create problems.

Sharpening a plane takes practice and some time, but again, sharpening is a skill with a wide range of uses. Most people have never sharpened their kitchen knives because they don't know how. If you learn to sharpen your plane you will have the tools and skills to make life in the kitchen much easier.

Scraping does nothing to create a fair surface. The scraper will ride up and over small irregularities. While it will knock off corners, it otherwise conforms to the existing surface. A small random orbital sander will also conform to unfair surfaces. This is fine if you do a good job laying the strips, but if you need to do fairing, a plane excels at the task. I use a combination of my small block planes and a large 14" long jointer plane to quick smooth and fair a boat. Almost no sanding is required after planing, just a few minutes to even out small irregularities.

Because a kayak is curved I have not found the edges of the planing digging in a problem worth worrying about. Most of the time it is just the middle of the plane doing the work so the edges don't matter.

The plane make nice, big, loopy, smooth, curls of translucent wood which can be swept up easily. A scraper makes nasty little wrinkled shavings which fall apart when you try to clean up. Which would you rather have, loopy or wrinkled? I'd go for loopy any day.

You will never regret learning how to sharpen and use a plane. It is a satisfying, and I think fun skill which has many gratifying uses. A scraper is a cruder tool. It will work well, but you may feel you are butchering the boat (even though you're not). Once you learn how to scrape well you will be ready for that most fun of tasks - preparing your house for a new coat of paint.

Since you need to learn a new skill anyway, learn how to plane. Learn how to scrape later, there is a lot to be said for using both techniques. I get rid of the glue with a scraper and do some initial shaping while I'm at it, but I always reach for the plane. It just works.