You did the right thing in pausing and asking. Let me say first, that the issue sounds minor. I assume by 'quarter', you mean a quarter inch right?
Pictures are always in order when you have questions, just to make sure we're not answering the wrong questions etc.
When I find something that's off (and everybody has
something off somewhere), I first try to determine why or what went wrong. Like, how long the straight keel section is and comparing the two sides to each other. The bottom panels should be mirror images of each other, and yes, according to Sheet 006C, from 60" (measured from the bow point) back, the keel should be a straight run.
I would lay the two bottom panels on top of each other, inner face to inner face, clamp or screw them together so the bow points are aligned and the transom end is aligned, and then take a look ...you can also snap a chalk line along the keel / fairbody line to see where non-straightness exists. By the time you get this far, you'll know what you need to do ...either fill gaps with epoxy when the panels are in the molds, or shave off a hump here and there, or both.
In the mean time, don't sweat it ...The general philosophy is that at each step, you do two things, a) do the best you can on that step, and b) correct what went wrong in the last step. In the end, nothing will be very far off and the boat will never know the difference ....and nobody but you will spot little imperfections that make it to the end.
Brian
