First Float Frames cut

In theory, I have a pretty good idea of what needs to happen to get this project put together.
But in practice, well - lets just say it sometimes might take a while for the light bulb to come on...

So anyway, the day after Christmas I pulled the Full-Sized plans out of the storage tube to locate the float patterns and tape some transfer paper to the back side. After that was all ready to go, I cut the first MDF board in half then used some clamps to hold the two pieces together before carefully marking out the center line and squaring up float pattern number one. I used the jig-saw to make the cut and then ran the belt sander along the edge to smooth the shape out a bit. After all that was done, I marked along the bottom edge to pre-drill the screw holes to mount to the strong back cleats before setting both frames up against the cutting table in preparation for moving on to the next frame.

However, as I was marking out the next frame I took an admiring glance over at the first frames and realized the working height would be almost 5' (1.5m) off the floor!

 - Yeah, remember that "light bulb" comment I made earlier?

Well anyway, I wasn't super excited with the cut quality so I went back to the plans to determine just how high the frames actually needed to be, then I rearranged the work area for a a second go at it.

The next thing that stumped me was the cut-outs for the raised deck section. The plans call for leaving a section of the foam on outer float frame extended above the top of the frames and cutting back the foam on the inner side. This was confusing to me and I actually just stopped working for an hour or so to take a break and think it out before screwing up another cut, but a quick look at Henny's site reminded me of the proper method and I was on my way again.

At the moment, I have six of the 13 frames cut and ready to go but I'm not happy with frame number two, so I'll probably re-cut that one (dull jigsaw blade made an angled cut). It takes a while to get these done since I have to make the initial cut for height, then I need to cut and glue some extension pieces to accommodate the larger frames. That all needs to dry before moving on to the marking, cutting and sanding.

However, the one thing that has really worked well for marking the patterns is the double marking wheel I picked up a while back. The wheels are removable and can be reinserted at different locations to suit the width required.

Unrolling the plans

Double marking wheel

First Frames cut. These are the ones that ended up being reworked.

Two frames are cut at once to match the profile along both halves

Also had the brilliant idea to cut a "window" in the pattern to square things up.

Second cut on Frame One. Much better working height!

Frame number seven - I think this might be the largest one.
I ended up redoing this frame because the flat top wasn't straight when I put the two halves together. Also, I plan to use this frame set as the master template for getting the other flat top frames angles lined up.
(Note: I'll be going with the rounded outer side vs. the width reducing shaved section)