Let's get scarfed

In boatbuilding, when you don't have planks that are long enough you have to scarf two boards together to get the length you need. Scarfing is establishing a ratio to taper the end of the boards, then glue them together. There are different type of scarf joints, including taper, keyed, and notch. Boatbuilding typically uses a 12:1 ration, which means you taper out 12" of board for every 1" of thickness. For me, this means I planed my boards down to 3/4" thick, and used a 9" scarf.

Cut the boards to width on the table saw

Got the rabbet cut into the stem

Chines ready to taper

Chines and clamps cut to width and planed

Planed the first 9" of the boards to a taper

taper station in full effect

I cut the chines 1.5" wide and the clamps 3" wide. None of the source boards I was able to start with was long enough, so I ended up with 8 boards total that glued up into only 4 boards between 18' and 20' long.

Scarfs in the clamps

One of these is longer than the rest

Now that the scarfs are all filled with epoxy, the final long boards are ready to attach to the frames. I'm going to notch the frames to inset the boards, then bend everything in place.