You can get a much better (fairer) curve using a batten then you can from the templates CLC sells. That is what I did on round two myself, and it worked out much better then the first attempt using that god awful template.

However, the use of a batten doesn't ensure success by any means.

The offset tables have to be accurate. They aren't always.

The batten must be consistent. Or at least used consistently. Otherwise you will get inconcistencies in how the curve is shaped between points. This is especially a problem when joining two different panels that should have had the same curvature.

You must be accurate. Accurate in placing your pin points, accurate in tracing the line, and accurate in cutting along the line. Human error exasurbates these inaccuracies, and compounds it.

You must also flex the batten consistently. No mean feat when curve fitting. If you pull it to fit one time, and shove it to fit the next... This especially important when going from one board to another board that will be stitched to it. And if the batten itself isn't consistent...

But even with all those difficulties, you still get a much better curve and much better fit then you would from a series of straight lines, from bad photocopies, that you attempt to copy in some fashion onto plywood sheets, and cut out.

By all means, use the offsets and battens. And still be ready to leave gaps in the joints and fill them in with fairing compound. The most important faired line is that of the boat, not the panels.

If you cut out panels by stacking the sheets and cuting them at the same time, even if you make mistakes, the mistakes will be symetrical across the boat because the panels are identical. This helps a lot in making the boat look right and matching lines, even if those lines are wrong. No one would ever know there is a major mistake in my Mill Creek, because it's symetrical. I ended up with my bow about two inches too tall, and it gives the boat an upswept deck, sorta like the Guillemot has. Looks great, but it's incorrect. And I got away with it because it was done to both sides equally. And btw, it happened because there is a mistake in the offset tables.

The bilge panel is the most difficult. Work very carefully with your offsets, use meticulously layed out grids on the plywood to ensure squareness and symetry of your data points. I marked my batten, and used it very symetrically when laying out both sides of the bilge panel, turning it over to ensure the same side formed the inside of the curve, and the same end was always at the bow. This helped greatly in keeping the lines symetrical. I also drew straight lines between my offset table points on the wood. Connect the dots if you will. This helped me to ensure the pinning of the batten was consistent side to side as I faired the curves, by measuring the distance and shape of the curve between the pinned offset table points. I could compare side to side and get them to match how the curves laid in relationship to the straight lines joining the points. This step surprised me by how different the second line wanted to lay as compared to the first. If I hadn't done this, I wouldn't have caught it.

> confused here, couldn't a person just use the offsets in the plans then
> use a long batten to make the curve fair?