Properly done scarf joints can be almost invisible: I can't find the ones on my first boat even though they were varnished. The posts are rather short but there's still only going to be a couple of joints on each strip; there's usually one anyway so what difference another? My last boat was built with 6 feet long fencing boards and needed two joints per strip, I don't worry about it. Paint is a perfectly good finish for a boat but don't be afraid to bright-finish if that's what you really want; my boats have a combination of paint and varnish.

Whether your saw is good enough for the job is another matter. Give it a good tune-up first, check the bearing play and blade run-out, set up the blade exactly. Use a good blade - I like a finish-cut thin-kerf blade as it is faster, quieter and creates less waste and dust. I don't have experience of table saws myself so if this is your first big job on the saw check out the safety rules first!

It's going to be a dusty job, I rig up a shop-vac when I've got a lot of sawing to do. The shop-vac Quiet Plus series are good and cheaper than a proper workshop vac: the motor cooling air does not pass through the filter bag so it cannot get clogged and burn out the motor.

Cedar dust can be nasty - get a mask. I also hang a box fan from the ceiling with a furnace filter over the front, which sucks the dust out of the air fast, although a saw isn't quite as bad as power sander.

Most important, we like to see photos of work in progressed and the finished boat!