Guess I agree with Paul. All the talk of long fences, etc. are in my opinion the wrong approach when cutting something that ends up flexible and will be bent to some different shape. You only need straight edges if you are trying to produce straight cuttings.

With a long fence, it is not possible to cut a uniform thickness from a curved board. Think about it; the part of the board before and after the saw blade is irrevelant. The fact that it may not be lined up with the cut makes no difference. Therefore, for cutting boat strips, I use a short fence and let the ends of the board go where they may. Gets uniform strips with no real hassle. The principle is not much different than some of the "point fence" set-ups for ripping on a bandsaw. Just my opinion.

Grant Goltz
Squeedunk Kayaks

: You lose the equivalent of 1 strip by doing all the planing or truing.

: But why bother?

: The first strip you rip will give you a pretty straight edge, on your board
: and a strip that is useless for stripping, but can be useful for stirring
: paint. It is the same as losing that strip to the plane.

: Your freshly cut edge may not be perfectly true, but it will give you a strip
: that should be usable, or at least partly usable. Check for thin spots and
: eliminate them. Use the remaining wood for short filler pieces.

: After removing that (almost) 3/4 inch from the first two strips and sawblade
: kerf, your third strip, and any after, should now be coming from a
: straight edge.

: So just start ripping.

: PGJ