: Maybe I'm just worrying too much, like a new parent.

Interesting comment. I built my first SOF the summer after my wife was pregnant, and I was surprised how similar the anxieties felt...

Of the books available (Morris, Cunningham, Petersen, Starr), Morris's has the worst method for determining rib length. When I used his method I made my first set of ribs from bending birch plywood, and when I stuck them in, they fit horribly. I solved the problem by making trial ribs out of the plywood, which was still trial-and-error, and took a long time. But, my ribs ended up correct when I finally bent them up.

I think it was Ralph Johnson who hipped me to the solution I'd use if I did it that way again on the Qajaq USA forum. He lays out the keel like Morris does, and then uses romex electrical wire and makes trial ribs from that. It holds its shape, whereas the bending birch I used does not, so you can even mock up the chines if you want, and it has the added bonus that after you determine rib length the wire keeps its shape when you take it out of the frame, so you can use it as a guide for the shape when you bend your ribs. Just do them one at a time...

You might run across a photo if you did a search on the Qajaq USA forum.

m