Carving Letters in Hardwood

[EastCoastChris]

I don't want name boards, I want to go straight onto the sheer plank.

contact a small local firm with a cnc machine

Could be interesting mounting the boat on the machine

Even if it takes you a few days on and off, doing it slowly a little at a time by hand seems by far the safest option. I reckon Cuchilo's suggestion was the best approach.

An alternative might be to make a pattern for the router and then do several test runs for practice before pinning the pattern to the boat.

It's certainly possible and I wish you every success.

Chris