After working out the measurements of the boat with the help of a balance board, I transferred the measurements to a "story stick".

The gunwales, chines and keelson ready to be cut. I had planned on using pine or fir, but the wood selection at my local Home Depot was so bad, I ended up falling back on my old friend, Western Red Cedar. Three 10' 1x3's cost me $15.00. I am trying to keep the cost of this boat way down.

McKinley, and the completed cuts.

I cut the spreaders and forms from scrap plywood.

I tried several experiments for cutting the mortises. I settled on a 1/4" straight router bit chucked into my rotary saw. I built this jig to control everything.

The mortising jig in action. I ended up with 21 ribs (42 mortises). The total job took about 20 minutes.

Defining the sweep of the gunwales. I used a spokeshave to take off the wood above the batten. I also used a jig saw to cut the ends to shape.

After some consideration, I decided to add 2" to the beam. To do this, I cut the middle form in half, spread it 2" and sistered it on both sides.

The gunwale ends before beveling.

And after beveling.