Hank,

It would help if you told us what boats you're building.

George K

Sorry about that, we are building two cocktail racers

Hank,

I've not built a Skua yet so don't know the thickness of the keel. There are a couple of ways you can do it. Okoume would be the easiest to bend over that radius, 3mm would bend with no problems and 4mm would probably make it, too. Just layer it till you get the thickness you need. Another way, if you don't want to get in to steam bending, is to cut strips of wood, ash works well, about 1/8" thick and laminate them with thickened epoxy. Pine would also work but you'd probably have to soak the strips for a while, bend them over the radius and clamp them till they dry. Then remove them and laminate as you would the ash.

Hopefully somebody who has built one will chime in here!

George K

The CCWBRA plans call for the forward section of the full 1" by 2" inner keel to be cut horizontally into three strips to allow the sharp bend.  Epoxy is spread into the slots before the bend is made as the front part of the keel is fastened to the frames on the building jig.  This method works well for the outer keel, too.  Staggering the ends of the cuts by an inch or so will probably yield a more fair curve at the beginning of the bend: stop the innermost cut a little forward of frame 2, the outermost cut a little aft of frame 2.

Your finished hulls, less outboards and fuel tanks, should weigh less than 100 lbs, so the wood for your keels doesn't need to be massively strong (heavy).  The straight-grained fir recommended in the plans works.  I imagine any of the boatbuilding lumber CLC sells would work, as would George's suggestions.  Just be sure there are no knots or other defects in the part of the keel that needs to be bent.  Good luck.

Thanks.