Jaager

Sealer seems to be an ambiguous term. 
Sand n' Sealer is a product type meant for full size furniture made from open pore species like Oak, Walnut, Ash ...  It is thick and has solid particles meant to fill the pores.  It is generally better to use a species of wood that does not need any pore filling.  It is really out of scale thick.
 
If by sealer, a clear top coat is what is meant, there are two general schools of philosophy. 
Polyurethane - which comes water based and organic solvent based.  It is a plastic, and to me, looks it.  Many here are devoted to wipe-on poly.  As Bob Cleek writes, it is diluted regular poly, that is just more expensive and has good advertising.
Old fossils prefer shellac.  - lots of posts about it  and how to use it.  Thin and shine depends on how many coats or if it is buffed with a fine abrasive. 
There is also solvent based - usually termed varnish,  which is a polymerized natural oil, like linseed, Tung  with maybe some shellac added in.  Generally thin, but getting an even coat wants practice using it.
 
A primer is usually half concentration shellac or oil that penetrates, and sets up a base for additional coats or paint.
 
The can of stain should give directions for any pre-treatment - follow-on top coats are a matter of personal taste and the final look that is desired. 
High gloss anything is to be avoided.  Matte or flat or egg shell is a better scale appropriate finish look

Sealer seems to be an ambiguous term. 
Sand n' Sealer is a product type meant for full size furniture made from open pore species like Oak, Walnut, Ash ...  It is thick and has solid particles meant to fill the pores.  It is generally better to use a species of wood that does not need any pore filling.  It is really out of scale thick.
 
If by sealer, a clear top coat is what is meant, there are two general schools of philosophy. 
Polyurethane - which comes water based and organic solvent based.  It is a plastic, and to me, looks it.  Many here are devoted to wipe-on poly.  As Bob Cleek writes, it is diluted regular poly, that is just more expensive and has good advertising.
Old fossils prefer shellac.  - lots of posts about it  and how to use it.  Thin and shine depends on how many coats or if it is buffed with a fine abrasive. 
There is also solvent based - usually termed varnish,  which is a polymerized natural oil, like linseed, Tung  with maybe some shellac added in.  Generally thin, but getting an even coat wants practice using it.
 
A primer is usually half concentration shellac or oil that penetrates, and sets up a base for additional coats or paint.
 
The can of stain should give directions for any pre-treatment - follow-on top coats are a matter of personal taste and the final look that is desired. 
High gloss anything is to be avoided.  Matte or flat or egg shell is a better scale appropriate finish look

Allan,
I say this about the spacing of moulds on a POB build.  It may be only a slight difference in final shape, but altering the placement of the moulds along the central spine to a different position from those defined by the plans is not a good thing to do. Especially if the reason is to have the moulds be at regular and equal distant intervals. This does change the hull curves.   This ship seems to be singularly unique in that it has four sets of Station intervals.  There are 4 sets of frame thicknesses and space thicknesses.  It is fiercely complicated when compared to similar monographs.   I am saying that by moving the station intervals so that they are equally spaced, just for looks does not do anything important. The moulds should be hidden by the planking and not seen anyway.  I do not see the point for having symmetry there.  But this is my particular OCD.  It seems that even the designer of the plans says that moving the stations and rotating them CCW 1.2 degrees machts nicht anyway.  (For me this injects certain questions about the author.) 
 
The 17th century hulls (most of them. anyway) were developed using three stations.  The main one at the deadflat, one forward  and one aft.  The various profile curves that define where are the arc centers produce the two smaller moulds at an arbitrary position fore and aft chosen by the architect.  But the hull shape can be changed by sliding these outer moulds along the keel.  Move the forward one closer to the bow and the entry is more buff.  Move the after one closer to the stern and the run there is fatter.  (If I understand it correctly, Dutch shipbuilders did this with three bends on the ways, instead of on paper.  The English and French had more politicians involved and less trust in the shipbuilders, so they started with paper/parchment.)  The waterlines, buttock lines, diagonal "proof" lines were to check for unwanted hollows or bulges.  These guys did not have test tanks, laminar flow tests, eddy checks.  They used experience and preconceived  prejudice as their "scientific" tests for proper hull form.  Moving the stations is redesigning the hull shape.
 
All these problems are minor factors.  This ship is special.  It is elegant.  It is about a magnitude above any competitors in beauty. Even if CRI-CRI is using the awful POB method, he seems to be capturing the hull curves so far. 

I will guess that your kit is not from a boutique supplier based here, so the quality of the the wood species is questionable at best.
This makes using a dye relatively pointless, since the basic material does not warrant quality treatment. So, using an actual stain (semi-transparent paint) would be an improvement.
Checking on WoodCraft's site, you can get 1/2 pint cans for ~$12.00.  A local hardware store may do as well.  If the stain company has a shade that the store does not stock, one that rings your bell, they can probably special order it.  I would go with solvent based over water based.  The water will raise the grain.  You can get around this by pretreating with 10% PVA in water and refinishing after it dries.  Test on scrap.  But good ventilation and latex gloves and oil based will save the step.  Ignore the supposed waste, it may last longer that you think if you seal it well. Paying 10x's more per volume for a smaller bottle may not really be wise economy.

Allan,
If I am reading it correctly, what you are doing is lofting new mould shapes at the positions that you have selected.  It is more work, but it would still exactly replicate the hull.
The English seemed to go to laborious means to get their frame sides to define the sides of their gun ports.  The French and North Americans seem to have just used more material and less space in their upper works and cut the ports into the framing timbers.  I make it a goal to only need to use the existing stations from the Body plan to use as patterns for my frames.  I do not do well at drawing curves and doing something like 200 of them instead of just isolating 20 or so station shapes is weeks if not months quicker.  It is also less prone to me induced artifacts.  This means that on average, I am shaping 2-3-4 bends (4-6-8 frames) and their intervening spaces as a unit.  I fill the spaces with low cost Pine held using double sided tape to make it solid and protect the frame edges.
 
I make everything above the main wale a solid wall - no spaces - I find the actual framing there ugly anyway, so I hide it. 
 
In your place, I would use my method instead of POB.  I would use Yellow Poplar.  (Framing lumber Pine will do - specially if you can get No.1 material. HomeDepot "quality" stuff is No.2) The layer thickness where there would be frames can be any convenient dimension. The sum of the layers needs to be equal to the station interval.  It is way more work, but the thicknesses can be set to frame the gun ports without any later cutting in.  The wood species there can be something more pretty than Yellow Poplar.  I used Rock Elm for Renommee gun port sides - a red close to natural mineral pigment red.  By using pin alignments outside the actual frames, the layers are exact and there is an identical pattern in the identical location on both sides of a stack-  The bevels on both sides have their patterns.  No baseboard needed.  Getting the stacks joined properly requires care.  The result is a solid base for single layer planking.  If you fill the gaps between moulds in POB - My way is probably quicker and if you have the machinery -  a serious scroll saw (I use 1/8" blade on a 9" bendtop bandsaw) and a drum sanding table  and a drill press - the alignment pins need a blue million holes.  It makes for a better looking under the planking hull that is hollow if you want to include any guts.
 

Allan,
I say this about the spacing of moulds on a POB build.  It may be only a slight difference in final shape, but altering the placement of the moulds along the central spine to a different position from those defined by the plans is not a good thing to do. Especially if the reason is to have the moulds be at regular and equal distant intervals. This does change the hull curves.   This ship seems to be singularly unique in that it has four sets of Station intervals.  There are 4 sets of frame thicknesses and space thicknesses.  It is fiercely complicated when compared to similar monographs.   I am saying that by moving the station intervals so that they are equally spaced, just for looks does not do anything important. The moulds should be hidden by the planking and not seen anyway.  I do not see the point for having symmetry there.  But this is my particular OCD.  It seems that even the designer of the plans says that moving the stations and rotating them CCW 1.2 degrees machts nicht anyway.  (For me this injects certain questions about the author.) 
 
The 17th century hulls (most of them. anyway) were developed using three stations.  The main one at the deadflat, one forward  and one aft.  The various profile curves that define where are the arc centers produce the two smaller moulds at an arbitrary position fore and aft chosen by the architect.  But the hull shape can be changed by sliding these outer moulds along the keel.  Move the forward one closer to the bow and the entry is more buff.  Move the after one closer to the stern and the run there is fatter.  (If I understand it correctly, Dutch shipbuilders did this with three bends on the ways, instead of on paper.  The English and French had more politicians involved and less trust in the shipbuilders, so they started with paper/parchment.)  The waterlines, buttock lines, diagonal "proof" lines were to check for unwanted hollows or bulges.  These guys did not have test tanks, laminar flow tests, eddy checks.  They used experience and preconceived  prejudice as their "scientific" tests for proper hull form.  Moving the stations is redesigning the hull shape.
 
All these problems are minor factors.  This ship is special.  It is elegant.  It is about a magnitude above any competitors in beauty. Even if CRI-CRI is using the awful POB method, he seems to be capturing the hull curves so far. 

I will guess that your kit is not from a boutique supplier based here, so the quality of the the wood species is questionable at best.
This makes using a dye relatively pointless, since the basic material does not warrant quality treatment. So, using an actual stain (semi-transparent paint) would be an improvement.
Checking on WoodCraft's site, you can get 1/2 pint cans for ~$12.00.  A local hardware store may do as well.  If the stain company has a shade that the store does not stock, one that rings your bell, they can probably special order it.  I would go with solvent based over water based.  The water will raise the grain.  You can get around this by pretreating with 10% PVA in water and refinishing after it dries.  Test on scrap.  But good ventilation and latex gloves and oil based will save the step.  Ignore the supposed waste, it may last longer that you think if you seal it well. Paying 10x's more per volume for a smaller bottle may not really be wise economy.

Allan,
I say this about the spacing of moulds on a POB build.  It may be only a slight difference in final shape, but altering the placement of the moulds along the central spine to a different position from those defined by the plans is not a good thing to do. Especially if the reason is to have the moulds be at regular and equal distant intervals. This does change the hull curves.   This ship seems to be singularly unique in that it has four sets of Station intervals.  There are 4 sets of frame thicknesses and space thicknesses.  It is fiercely complicated when compared to similar monographs.   I am saying that by moving the station intervals so that they are equally spaced, just for looks does not do anything important. The moulds should be hidden by the planking and not seen anyway.  I do not see the point for having symmetry there.  But this is my particular OCD.  It seems that even the designer of the plans says that moving the stations and rotating them CCW 1.2 degrees machts nicht anyway.  (For me this injects certain questions about the author.) 
 
The 17th century hulls (most of them. anyway) were developed using three stations.  The main one at the deadflat, one forward  and one aft.  The various profile curves that define where are the arc centers produce the two smaller moulds at an arbitrary position fore and aft chosen by the architect.  But the hull shape can be changed by sliding these outer moulds along the keel.  Move the forward one closer to the bow and the entry is more buff.  Move the after one closer to the stern and the run there is fatter.  (If I understand it correctly, Dutch shipbuilders did this with three bends on the ways, instead of on paper.  The English and French had more politicians involved and less trust in the shipbuilders, so they started with paper/parchment.)  The waterlines, buttock lines, diagonal "proof" lines were to check for unwanted hollows or bulges.  These guys did not have test tanks, laminar flow tests, eddy checks.  They used experience and preconceived  prejudice as their "scientific" tests for proper hull form.  Moving the stations is redesigning the hull shape.
 
All these problems are minor factors.  This ship is special.  It is elegant.  It is about a magnitude above any competitors in beauty. Even if CRI-CRI is using the awful POB method, he seems to be capturing the hull curves so far. 

Language differences aside, that is not a frame.  The usual name is "bulkhead".  It is not really a bulkhead either.  What it actually is = a "mold" or "mould"*.   From my time around microbiology, I prefer mould - even if the site spell checker does not. It also does not like a lot of other words we use, such as "futtock".
 
Imagine doing this at 1:48 as provided in the monograph?  
 
* Old Ben, Ben Lankford was the first the make a point of this back on Clay Feldman's listserver.

If the terminology follows tradition, you have a species of Maple there.  It is close enough to Hard Maple for the differences to be academic.  It is also a local commercial hardwood for you.
Harvesting, seasoning, and milling your own wood is tricky to do and a lot of work if it is not a part of your usual work.  The rewards generally match the necessary investment in time, equipment, and skills if the species harvested are those which are not to be had by any other means.  This would most often be a fruitwood, box, if lucky, hawthorn, Cornus and the like.
 
That editorial caveat out of the way, It needs air circulation to dry before a fungus gets it.  It needs protection from rain and snow. It needs protection from borrowing insects.  The rate of water loss from various surfaces needs attention.  The wet finger rule is seasoning requires 1 year per inch of thickness.
 
The water will leave much more quickly from areas of open end grain: cut ends and where branches are cut off.  Left uncontrolled, the difference in rate of water loss will produce internal stresses. 
The wood will split and check.  In the worst cases, the result is toothpicks.  The open ends must be sealed. This needs to be done concurrent with harvest or soon after.   There are many materials that do this, but quick and dirty is a THICK coating of leftover latex house paint.  Recoat as any splitting there shows there is not enough of a barrier.
 
Bark slows the rate of water loss from the side grain and there also may be eggs or larvae of wood eating insects in it back from when it was standing.  Leaving the bark on invites insect damage, a slower rate of drying, and not discovering any existing rot, which would result in a wasted effort.
Air circulation around each piece is important.  Pieces of wood are generally used for this.  Over here, these are called stickers.  The process of stacking the drying wood using the stickers is termed "stickering".
 
It speeds drying time, making handling easier, and may save on loss to splitting if the logs are immediately reduced to billets.  One inch thick is OK if you do not need stock for larger scale POF frame stock.  Two inch is better if you do need this.  Getting logs into billets is most efficiently done using a band saw.  It is a royal PITA otherwise and generally involves serious loss to kerf.
 
Length,  from the lumber yard, the boards generally come in 8 foot lengths.  My first outing involved the yard bisecting to 4 foot.  This is still impractical. For a while, I cut them into 16" lengths for my bench.  It is a bit fiddly and short, and now I find 2 foot lengths to be my sweet spot.
 
Does your garage have rafters/ trusses?   Is there room there for drying wood?  Is there an attic in your home?  Otherwise, your outside stack will need a blue tarp and probably a new one every 6-12 months.

Language differences aside, that is not a frame.  The usual name is "bulkhead".  It is not really a bulkhead either.  What it actually is = a "mold" or "mould"*.   From my time around microbiology, I prefer mould - even if the site spell checker does not. It also does not like a lot of other words we use, such as "futtock".
 
Imagine doing this at 1:48 as provided in the monograph?  
 
* Old Ben, Ben Lankford was the first the make a point of this back on Clay Feldman's listserver.

If the terminology follows tradition, you have a species of Maple there.  It is close enough to Hard Maple for the differences to be academic.  It is also a local commercial hardwood for you.
Harvesting, seasoning, and milling your own wood is tricky to do and a lot of work if it is not a part of your usual work.  The rewards generally match the necessary investment in time, equipment, and skills if the species harvested are those which are not to be had by any other means.  This would most often be a fruitwood, box, if lucky, hawthorn, Cornus and the like.
 
That editorial caveat out of the way, It needs air circulation to dry before a fungus gets it.  It needs protection from rain and snow. It needs protection from borrowing insects.  The rate of water loss from various surfaces needs attention.  The wet finger rule is seasoning requires 1 year per inch of thickness.
 
The water will leave much more quickly from areas of open end grain: cut ends and where branches are cut off.  Left uncontrolled, the difference in rate of water loss will produce internal stresses. 
The wood will split and check.  In the worst cases, the result is toothpicks.  The open ends must be sealed. This needs to be done concurrent with harvest or soon after.   There are many materials that do this, but quick and dirty is a THICK coating of leftover latex house paint.  Recoat as any splitting there shows there is not enough of a barrier.
 
Bark slows the rate of water loss from the side grain and there also may be eggs or larvae of wood eating insects in it back from when it was standing.  Leaving the bark on invites insect damage, a slower rate of drying, and not discovering any existing rot, which would result in a wasted effort.
Air circulation around each piece is important.  Pieces of wood are generally used for this.  Over here, these are called stickers.  The process of stacking the drying wood using the stickers is termed "stickering".
 
It speeds drying time, making handling easier, and may save on loss to splitting if the logs are immediately reduced to billets.  One inch thick is OK if you do not need stock for larger scale POF frame stock.  Two inch is better if you do need this.  Getting logs into billets is most efficiently done using a band saw.  It is a royal PITA otherwise and generally involves serious loss to kerf.
 
Length,  from the lumber yard, the boards generally come in 8 foot lengths.  My first outing involved the yard bisecting to 4 foot.  This is still impractical. For a while, I cut them into 16" lengths for my bench.  It is a bit fiddly and short, and now I find 2 foot lengths to be my sweet spot.
 
Does your garage have rafters/ trusses?   Is there room there for drying wood?  Is there an attic in your home?  Otherwise, your outside stack will need a blue tarp and probably a new one every 6-12 months.

If the terminology follows tradition, you have a species of Maple there.  It is close enough to Hard Maple for the differences to be academic.  It is also a local commercial hardwood for you.
Harvesting, seasoning, and milling your own wood is tricky to do and a lot of work if it is not a part of your usual work.  The rewards generally match the necessary investment in time, equipment, and skills if the species harvested are those which are not to be had by any other means.  This would most often be a fruitwood, box, if lucky, hawthorn, Cornus and the like.
 
That editorial caveat out of the way, It needs air circulation to dry before a fungus gets it.  It needs protection from rain and snow. It needs protection from borrowing insects.  The rate of water loss from various surfaces needs attention.  The wet finger rule is seasoning requires 1 year per inch of thickness.
 
The water will leave much more quickly from areas of open end grain: cut ends and where branches are cut off.  Left uncontrolled, the difference in rate of water loss will produce internal stresses. 
The wood will split and check.  In the worst cases, the result is toothpicks.  The open ends must be sealed. This needs to be done concurrent with harvest or soon after.   There are many materials that do this, but quick and dirty is a THICK coating of leftover latex house paint.  Recoat as any splitting there shows there is not enough of a barrier.
 
Bark slows the rate of water loss from the side grain and there also may be eggs or larvae of wood eating insects in it back from when it was standing.  Leaving the bark on invites insect damage, a slower rate of drying, and not discovering any existing rot, which would result in a wasted effort.
Air circulation around each piece is important.  Pieces of wood are generally used for this.  Over here, these are called stickers.  The process of stacking the drying wood using the stickers is termed "stickering".
 
It speeds drying time, making handling easier, and may save on loss to splitting if the logs are immediately reduced to billets.  One inch thick is OK if you do not need stock for larger scale POF frame stock.  Two inch is better if you do need this.  Getting logs into billets is most efficiently done using a band saw.  It is a royal PITA otherwise and generally involves serious loss to kerf.
 
Length,  from the lumber yard, the boards generally come in 8 foot lengths.  My first outing involved the yard bisecting to 4 foot.  This is still impractical. For a while, I cut them into 16" lengths for my bench.  It is a bit fiddly and short, and now I find 2 foot lengths to be my sweet spot.
 
Does your garage have rafters/ trusses?   Is there room there for drying wood?  Is there an attic in your home?  Otherwise, your outside stack will need a blue tarp and probably a new one every 6-12 months.

As an alternative you could cheat:
Part 204 - chock piece  - seems the extend to the top of part 202B - upper head rail.
I would place the two gammoning slots in 204 - just above the upper head rail.
This would save having to move the LWL or hide the carving.
In real life, if the boatswain, I would probably try to place the gammoning where the carving is and adjust the pattern to include it.

If the terminology follows tradition, you have a species of Maple there.  It is close enough to Hard Maple for the differences to be academic.  It is also a local commercial hardwood for you.
Harvesting, seasoning, and milling your own wood is tricky to do and a lot of work if it is not a part of your usual work.  The rewards generally match the necessary investment in time, equipment, and skills if the species harvested are those which are not to be had by any other means.  This would most often be a fruitwood, box, if lucky, hawthorn, Cornus and the like.
 
That editorial caveat out of the way, It needs air circulation to dry before a fungus gets it.  It needs protection from rain and snow. It needs protection from borrowing insects.  The rate of water loss from various surfaces needs attention.  The wet finger rule is seasoning requires 1 year per inch of thickness.
 
The water will leave much more quickly from areas of open end grain: cut ends and where branches are cut off.  Left uncontrolled, the difference in rate of water loss will produce internal stresses. 
The wood will split and check.  In the worst cases, the result is toothpicks.  The open ends must be sealed. This needs to be done concurrent with harvest or soon after.   There are many materials that do this, but quick and dirty is a THICK coating of leftover latex house paint.  Recoat as any splitting there shows there is not enough of a barrier.
 
Bark slows the rate of water loss from the side grain and there also may be eggs or larvae of wood eating insects in it back from when it was standing.  Leaving the bark on invites insect damage, a slower rate of drying, and not discovering any existing rot, which would result in a wasted effort.
Air circulation around each piece is important.  Pieces of wood are generally used for this.  Over here, these are called stickers.  The process of stacking the drying wood using the stickers is termed "stickering".
 
It speeds drying time, making handling easier, and may save on loss to splitting if the logs are immediately reduced to billets.  One inch thick is OK if you do not need stock for larger scale POF frame stock.  Two inch is better if you do need this.  Getting logs into billets is most efficiently done using a band saw.  It is a royal PITA otherwise and generally involves serious loss to kerf.
 
Length,  from the lumber yard, the boards generally come in 8 foot lengths.  My first outing involved the yard bisecting to 4 foot.  This is still impractical. For a while, I cut them into 16" lengths for my bench.  It is a bit fiddly and short, and now I find 2 foot lengths to be my sweet spot.
 
Does your garage have rafters/ trusses?   Is there room there for drying wood?  Is there an attic in your home?  Otherwise, your outside stack will need a blue tarp and probably a new one every 6-12 months.

If the terminology follows tradition, you have a species of Maple there.  It is close enough to Hard Maple for the differences to be academic.  It is also a local commercial hardwood for you.
Harvesting, seasoning, and milling your own wood is tricky to do and a lot of work if it is not a part of your usual work.  The rewards generally match the necessary investment in time, equipment, and skills if the species harvested are those which are not to be had by any other means.  This would most often be a fruitwood, box, if lucky, hawthorn, Cornus and the like.
 
That editorial caveat out of the way, It needs air circulation to dry before a fungus gets it.  It needs protection from rain and snow. It needs protection from borrowing insects.  The rate of water loss from various surfaces needs attention.  The wet finger rule is seasoning requires 1 year per inch of thickness.
 
The water will leave much more quickly from areas of open end grain: cut ends and where branches are cut off.  Left uncontrolled, the difference in rate of water loss will produce internal stresses. 
The wood will split and check.  In the worst cases, the result is toothpicks.  The open ends must be sealed. This needs to be done concurrent with harvest or soon after.   There are many materials that do this, but quick and dirty is a THICK coating of leftover latex house paint.  Recoat as any splitting there shows there is not enough of a barrier.
 
Bark slows the rate of water loss from the side grain and there also may be eggs or larvae of wood eating insects in it back from when it was standing.  Leaving the bark on invites insect damage, a slower rate of drying, and not discovering any existing rot, which would result in a wasted effort.
Air circulation around each piece is important.  Pieces of wood are generally used for this.  Over here, these are called stickers.  The process of stacking the drying wood using the stickers is termed "stickering".
 
It speeds drying time, making handling easier, and may save on loss to splitting if the logs are immediately reduced to billets.  One inch thick is OK if you do not need stock for larger scale POF frame stock.  Two inch is better if you do need this.  Getting logs into billets is most efficiently done using a band saw.  It is a royal PITA otherwise and generally involves serious loss to kerf.
 
Length,  from the lumber yard, the boards generally come in 8 foot lengths.  My first outing involved the yard bisecting to 4 foot.  This is still impractical. For a while, I cut them into 16" lengths for my bench.  It is a bit fiddly and short, and now I find 2 foot lengths to be my sweet spot.
 
Does your garage have rafters/ trusses?   Is there room there for drying wood?  Is there an attic in your home?  Otherwise, your outside stack will need a blue tarp and probably a new one every 6-12 months.

If the terminology follows tradition, you have a species of Maple there.  It is close enough to Hard Maple for the differences to be academic.  It is also a local commercial hardwood for you.
Harvesting, seasoning, and milling your own wood is tricky to do and a lot of work if it is not a part of your usual work.  The rewards generally match the necessary investment in time, equipment, and skills if the species harvested are those which are not to be had by any other means.  This would most often be a fruitwood, box, if lucky, hawthorn, Cornus and the like.
 
That editorial caveat out of the way, It needs air circulation to dry before a fungus gets it.  It needs protection from rain and snow. It needs protection from borrowing insects.  The rate of water loss from various surfaces needs attention.  The wet finger rule is seasoning requires 1 year per inch of thickness.
 
The water will leave much more quickly from areas of open end grain: cut ends and where branches are cut off.  Left uncontrolled, the difference in rate of water loss will produce internal stresses. 
The wood will split and check.  In the worst cases, the result is toothpicks.  The open ends must be sealed. This needs to be done concurrent with harvest or soon after.   There are many materials that do this, but quick and dirty is a THICK coating of leftover latex house paint.  Recoat as any splitting there shows there is not enough of a barrier.
 
Bark slows the rate of water loss from the side grain and there also may be eggs or larvae of wood eating insects in it back from when it was standing.  Leaving the bark on invites insect damage, a slower rate of drying, and not discovering any existing rot, which would result in a wasted effort.
Air circulation around each piece is important.  Pieces of wood are generally used for this.  Over here, these are called stickers.  The process of stacking the drying wood using the stickers is termed "stickering".
 
It speeds drying time, making handling easier, and may save on loss to splitting if the logs are immediately reduced to billets.  One inch thick is OK if you do not need stock for larger scale POF frame stock.  Two inch is better if you do need this.  Getting logs into billets is most efficiently done using a band saw.  It is a royal PITA otherwise and generally involves serious loss to kerf.
 
Length,  from the lumber yard, the boards generally come in 8 foot lengths.  My first outing involved the yard bisecting to 4 foot.  This is still impractical. For a while, I cut them into 16" lengths for my bench.  It is a bit fiddly and short, and now I find 2 foot lengths to be my sweet spot.
 
Does your garage have rafters/ trusses?   Is there room there for drying wood?  Is there an attic in your home?  Otherwise, your outside stack will need a blue tarp and probably a new one every 6-12 months.

If the terminology follows tradition, you have a species of Maple there.  It is close enough to Hard Maple for the differences to be academic.  It is also a local commercial hardwood for you.
Harvesting, seasoning, and milling your own wood is tricky to do and a lot of work if it is not a part of your usual work.  The rewards generally match the necessary investment in time, equipment, and skills if the species harvested are those which are not to be had by any other means.  This would most often be a fruitwood, box, if lucky, hawthorn, Cornus and the like.
 
That editorial caveat out of the way, It needs air circulation to dry before a fungus gets it.  It needs protection from rain and snow. It needs protection from borrowing insects.  The rate of water loss from various surfaces needs attention.  The wet finger rule is seasoning requires 1 year per inch of thickness.
 
The water will leave much more quickly from areas of open end grain: cut ends and where branches are cut off.  Left uncontrolled, the difference in rate of water loss will produce internal stresses. 
The wood will split and check.  In the worst cases, the result is toothpicks.  The open ends must be sealed. This needs to be done concurrent with harvest or soon after.   There are many materials that do this, but quick and dirty is a THICK coating of leftover latex house paint.  Recoat as any splitting there shows there is not enough of a barrier.
 
Bark slows the rate of water loss from the side grain and there also may be eggs or larvae of wood eating insects in it back from when it was standing.  Leaving the bark on invites insect damage, a slower rate of drying, and not discovering any existing rot, which would result in a wasted effort.
Air circulation around each piece is important.  Pieces of wood are generally used for this.  Over here, these are called stickers.  The process of stacking the drying wood using the stickers is termed "stickering".
 
It speeds drying time, making handling easier, and may save on loss to splitting if the logs are immediately reduced to billets.  One inch thick is OK if you do not need stock for larger scale POF frame stock.  Two inch is better if you do need this.  Getting logs into billets is most efficiently done using a band saw.  It is a royal PITA otherwise and generally involves serious loss to kerf.
 
Length,  from the lumber yard, the boards generally come in 8 foot lengths.  My first outing involved the yard bisecting to 4 foot.  This is still impractical. For a while, I cut them into 16" lengths for my bench.  It is a bit fiddly and short, and now I find 2 foot lengths to be my sweet spot.
 
Does your garage have rafters/ trusses?   Is there room there for drying wood?  Is there an attic in your home?  Otherwise, your outside stack will need a blue tarp and probably a new one every 6-12 months.

It sounds like the blade is wandering.  This is more of a problem with a bandsaw - and it occurs with me even with a high power quality machine- IF the blade is becoming dull - continuing on usually produces a BANG fairly quickly - - snapped blade - so there is no advantage in pushing.
SO, in light of this,
Iis your blade too thin?
Are there too many teeth on the blade for the thickness of the stock?
Is the blade becoming dull?
The Byrnes saw motor is powerful enough to drive a too thin, too many teeth, dull blade thru too thick stock without slowing down, so the blade will do the protesting.

I was thinking about your wale bending task.  Bending thru the thick dimension is fighting what the wood wants to do.  But would it be easier to bend a 1/4" x 1/16"?
I was shocked by kits doing wales by superimposing a half thickness wale over the complete first layer planking with a double layer hull POB. If the wale is two layers, the evidence would be hidden by the planking strakes above and below. It is heretical, but you could pretend that the hull is being girdled. 

I did some more armchair experimenting:
Would it help to use cardboard that is close to plank thickness?
Would it help to use a penetrating treatment with a varnish on both sides to stiffen it?
Would a plastic sheet that is thick enough to be stiff, but thin enough to cut with a sharp violin type knife and straight edge work better?
Once the pattern is refined to make a good fit, it can be transferred to two layers of planking stock bonded with something like double sided tape.  This way P&S planking can be spilled together.  About half the work and a better likelihood of bilateral symmetry?
 

Mark,
When you measure out a plank, do you first transfer that to a mock up from something like poster board to check the fit, before actually cutting wood?

It sounds like the blade is wandering.  This is more of a problem with a bandsaw - and it occurs with me even with a high power quality machine- IF the blade is becoming dull - continuing on usually produces a BANG fairly quickly - - snapped blade - so there is no advantage in pushing.
SO, in light of this,
Iis your blade too thin?
Are there too many teeth on the blade for the thickness of the stock?
Is the blade becoming dull?
The Byrnes saw motor is powerful enough to drive a too thin, too many teeth, dull blade thru too thick stock without slowing down, so the blade will do the protesting.

It sounds like the blade is wandering.  This is more of a problem with a bandsaw - and it occurs with me even with a high power quality machine- IF the blade is becoming dull - continuing on usually produces a BANG fairly quickly - - snapped blade - so there is no advantage in pushing.
SO, in light of this,
Iis your blade too thin?
Are there too many teeth on the blade for the thickness of the stock?
Is the blade becoming dull?
The Byrnes saw motor is powerful enough to drive a too thin, too many teeth, dull blade thru too thick stock without slowing down, so the blade will do the protesting.

Focusing on the #11 shape cutter:
This is about as individual preference and what you are used to subject as it gets.
 
A quick view at Widget Supply  comes up with:
Fiskars 167000 Softgrip Ergonomic Detail Knife  - comfortable in my hand
X-ACTO X3254 Black Ergonomic Knife - Safety Cap - Type A
X-ACTO X3627 Black Gripster Knife - Safety Cap - Type A
Fiskars 167110 Heavy Duty Knife
Excel 16019 K18 BLUE Soft Grip Knife
These want a superior quality steel blades - usually sold per #100
 
Scalpel blades   - sharp, excellent steel  funky attachment.
Several sizes of handle,  but long term hand comfort seems a low priority in design.
Sterility and not being a microorganism dispenser seems to dominate design.
 
The ultimate is Violin-Makers knives
Several widths  
no handles -  sort of like holding a pencil
It is as sharp as you strop.
Expensive - once in a lifetime - several choices for cutting edge length