There are 54 main ribs, 2 1/2″ x 3/8″. There are a few less half-ribs that will go on after I fair the main ones. There was a preponderance of close-grained, quarter-sawn material in my rib stock, which is not best suited for bending – but with cedar you use what you have for material. We broke 6 ribs out of the original 54, and bent the replacements the next day. This bending experience was difficult than others I have had; next time I am going to soak the ribs overnight, use a bigger burner and make a bigger steam box. My present burner is a 15,000 BTU gas hotplate and I am upgrading to a 54,000 BTU blaster from King Kooker. My box is now 6×6″ inside, and I will make one at least 8×8″, as well as monitor the temperature inside the box. You need 200 degrees F. The ribs have a 3/4″ taper over the last 12″ of one side to visually offset the cant of the backup bands. The ‘bevel goes to the center’ of the form. The ribs that bent without breaking required slow, steady pressure that took somewhere around 30-60 seconds to bend each side, once started. You can feel the wood give as it takes the turn of the bilge, but past the turn there is little bending going on and this is where some of the retained tension is.
I had a helper, John Leonard, working opposite me. 
By the end of the first day, the form looked like this – the spaces are the broken rib spots. We developed a fear of working up at the stem.
All the ribs on.
