> 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 did'nt specify
> if it was for a Skil Saw or a table saw.

A quick search resulted in theese two quotes from another BBS:

Gougeon Brothers sell a scarfing jig called SCARFFER at about 30 $. It attaches to a skill saw and can be used for plywood up to 10mm in thickness.

Woodenboat issue No.106 (May/June 1992) has a scarfing jig plan.

If you don't have the magazine, look at the picture below. It's not an accurate redraw of the jig rather than just an illustration to show the concept of such a jig as i remember it.

The top image is a side view withou the side flange, the lower image is a front view without material and tools.

The idèa is to fix the plywood as shown, and then plane off the edges until the plane touches both steel rods.

In the original article I think they used a router attached to a couple of rails to replace the long base of a long planer, and i guess that could be used with a power planer or a belt sander too. The clue here is to avoid the planer edges or the belt to hit the steel rods.

I can't give you the exact measures of such a jig until I've built one myself, but it's important that the relationship between the horisontal and the vertical distance between the steelrods compares to the lengt versus thickness int the joint you're making, i.e. 8:1

If you want the exact measures and drawings i guess WoodenBoat should be able to send you a copy of the magazine or a reprint of the article.

Totto