Yep. Makes sense. I think I understand now.

I experimented with several profiles and finally came up with something that looks fair and will be low enough. In the photo below, the cedar strip going across the boat is resting on top of the beam holding the stations. Using the top of that strip and the cockpit template I was able to determine the width that I needed and then create a recess template off of that.

BTW, an spare bandsaw blade comes in handy to make smooth curves between two points.

Thanks for the help