: The Lie-Nielsen #8 is essentially a Bailey #8. Awesome tool that
: will work great out of the box, but at $500 a bit pricy.

#8s are terrific planes for flattening a surface. I didn't understand this until I got one.
But before sending Lie-Nielsen $500, I'd buy a better table saw. Sam Maloof used his Unisaw with a good blade instead of a planner for joints on his famous rockers.

I have a Stanely #8, bought it a month ago from my neighbor who sells stuff at swap meets. I paid him less than $50, took off the loosest rust, sharpened the blade (Scary Sharp) and it definitely works better than a hand power planer, much smoother (I never owned a jointer).
How many #8s do you need? (Los Angeles)
For most work I still use my small hand planes, but the #8 will make you purr every time you use it. On a kayak it might help leveling a shear line but probably not much else.

The best primer on planes I've found is The Woodwright's Shop on PBS Hand Plane Essentials with Chris Schwarz
http://video.pbs.org/video/2172600556 (but there's not much on jointing)

but you won't need any of this to just rip some 2x and glue it back together to make a paddle. (When I do this I use epoxy). Those inexpensive 7-1/4" thin kerf SkilSaw blades make a really nice clean cut on an 8 or 10" table saw and they only cost about $16. ( I use them for ripping expensive clear cedar)