I finally installed my ribs this evening. Ash, 7/8"x1/2",22 of them. Man, what a job. Soaked them for two days, steamed for half an hour,six at a time and they bent very well. I only cracked one but I may be able to bind it up as the chine stringer goes over top of it. I had to tune a few of them, well, quite a few but they are all level and looking good. The mortise and tenon for these ribs are a 1/2" round tenon and of course a 1/2" round blind mortise and I got real lucky with a mistake that I made. On the advise of CC I bought a 1/2" tenon cutter that attaches to an electric drill to cut all of those tenons. It it an adjustable deal but only slightly so. I was playing around with my new toy trying to see how small a tenon I could cut with it and appearently had it set to about 7/16" and left it there. well, when I cut all of my tenons and went to test some of them they were all a little loose but it was too late. It worked out very well for me in the end because after soaking and steaming they all swelled slightly and were very hard to get into the mortises. Had I cut them the 1/2" as specified I would have been in trouble because there is no way they would have went into the mortises. I am assuming that they will go back to thier presoaked size when fully dry? They are pinned into the mortises,through the gunwales, does anyone think this shrinkage will pose any type of problems? By the way, if you ever have a need for round tenons, this mini tenon cutter is definately the way to go. I took me about 15 or 20 minutes to cut 42 1/2" tenons. www.woodcraft.com $27.99. They also have a real nice Veritas spokeshave for around $10.00 less the most other places,one of which I also got among other things and now, can you believe it, I am no longer allowed in that town. Hope to get some wood for the Keelson soon and complete the frame.