So if you use a planer and skip the cove and bead the thickness planer is less important??

: The smooth "finished" surface that your strips get from a thickness
: planer is irrelevant, because you have to fair the boat anyway, but where
: a thickness planer does help, is in getting consistent and uniform
: thickness to feed into your router setup for cutting bead & cove
: edges. If you have any variability in thickness from the ripping process
: (ie. the unevenness that results when you pause the feed to shift your
: hand position) some of the B&C might end up off-center (don't ask me how I
: know that).

: Definitely not worth running out to buy one, if building kayaks is the only
: use you have for it.