Gang Ripping with Woodmaster 718

[DR Buck]

I've had my Woodmaster 718 for close to 20 years and only used the gang ripping capability once a long time ago.    Now I have a need to rip about 3 dozen 1" bys to wrap 6x6 pressure treated porch columns to make them presentable for painting.   My plan is to use lock miter corners so when finished and painted they will look halfway decent.   To do this I need 7" wide boards that I will cut down from poplar and pine.  

When I set up today to start this job I set the rip blade spacing for 7" with the outside blade spaced 1/4" from the fence.  This way trimming off both sides I end up with having both edges straight for making the lock miter over the full 8-1/2 foot length.    My boards are all random width and I start them into the gang rip with the straight edge up tight against the fence but as the Woodmaster feed rollers pull the boards in, they drift away from the fence making the boards unusable.   I am thinking I need to use a feather board to hold them tight against the fence on the in-feed side.    Because before ripping the boards are random width, I'll need to make the feather board so I can adjust it easily for each board.

What other ideas have others that have gang ripping used?