Scarfs will look cleaner, but butt joints are fine structurally if you make sure they land on a form (to help in alignment) and you stagger them so you don't have multiple, consecutive joints on one form. I used butt joints on my canoe and they do not detract from its overall appearance.

Use one or two scarfed strips to start each side to get fair lines.

: Which is the best way to join short cedar strips on the hull to make full
: length strips? Should I use butt joints or scarf joints? I am using cove
: and bead strips.
: Thanks