: I have the Ridgid and I absolutely love it. I agree with Kurt that
: for ripping strips you can use the table saw to rip to desired
: thickness but you still need to plane the board first so the
: edges come out smooth. (the face of the board becomes the edge
: of the strip).

: Not sure what you meant about planing to 1/16". I assume you
: mean removing 1/16" of material. The Ridgid is fine for
: that. For planing down to 1/16" finished thickness I've
: never tried it but I have gone to 1/8" with no problems.

I guess I am just a dense old man :)) The table saw rips each strip to within a few thousandths of the same thickness. Running them through a router to B/C automatically sizes the strips to the same width. If you do not B/C and plane instead what pieces do not need to be planed to get a good fitting edge? Yhus destroying the edge ran through the planner?
Everyone does their best work using the tools and procedures they are most comfortable with. If we all built the same boat the same way - what fun is that :)) I just want the new / potential builders to realize a great kayak can be built with a very small outlay of hand tools. 90% of quality comes from the individual, 10% from the tool - in my opinion :)