I've got boxes of extra miniblind slats collecting dust in the basement. It never occurred to my to use them as rib battens. Good thinking, Sing!

I tried using Morris' "rule" method of gauging rib lengths on my first boat. It worked so-so for the first 4-5 ribs in the center of the boat, but was useless after that. I gave up and bent the ribs by eye, which was a lot of fun. I did the second boat by eye, too. The only other method I've seen that really makes sense to me is Mark Starr's method of using forms. I may try that on the next boat, in the hope of being able to reproduce the design. After two boats, I'm pretty sure that the next one will be THE ONE.