Almost done with a WGW and made a mistake!

[wwaterman]

Well, thankfully, my situation isn't nearly as bad as the 'mistake' sounds in the name of this thread. My plight is more of a philisophical one than a "Please, help!"

First of all, I'm six months in and almost done with my first boat, a Pygmy Wineglass Wherry! It's very exciting and is a beautiful craft. I'm very excited to take it on its maden voyage to Lake Mohave (south of the Hoover Dam) where it will take me, my girlfriend and dog to many beautiful hot springs and slot canyons.

Now, to the 'I made a mistake' part. The Wineglass Wherry has a bit of a unique gunwale setup. There is a rub rail on the outside of the sheer of the hull and then 22, 3.5-inch spacers that attach to the inside of the hull which the inwale attaches to. There are 22 per side.

Anyway, after applying about 40 of these inwale spacers I accidentally got out of sink with the spacing and epoxied a spacer 7 inches away from its previous spacer (instead of 3.5 inches). Basically, I skipped a space.

The philisophical question:

This really is not a big deal but it's been bugging me all frickin' night! I'm a perfectionist and I imagine myself looking at this damn 'space' in my inwale (or the little bit of wood I'm going to fill it with) every time I take the boat out!

I know I've become obsessed. Is this ridiculous, perfectionist crap that I'm dealing with now going to be gone as soon as I get this thing on the water?

I think I know that the answer is yes, but I almost need to hear it from some other folks that have built boats.

Argh!

[Oscarvan]

You did it on purpouse. It's a test. Anyone who notices is genuinely interested in your project. All others are just pretending to look and giving lip service.

I have been known to rip things apart after doing stuff like this. I am AR, and borderline OC. Most of the time those are good qualities. Once I laid 9 LARGE, as in engine hoist large, sandstone blocks as a foundation for a porch. When I was done I discovered one column was out of place. A friend architect showed me how to make it "on purpouse". Make a drink holder that sits in there.....anything.

[wwaterman]

Nice. That's a higher quality answer than I bargained for.

I'm still pissed!

[Canoez]

Think about it like this - when they make Persian Rugs, they always weave in a mistake because only Allah is perfect!

[wwaterman]

Another good one. I'm starting to feel better.

[MiddleAgesMan]

I agree--make something out of it (or into it) and get on with it. Would this be a good place for oarlocks? If slightly aft put one in there and consider it an emergency steering position should you lose the rudder.

But if it is going to eat you up from the inside out bite the bullet and plane the incorrectly positioned ones off and set new ones per the plans.

[Bob Smalser]

Maybe I don't understand your boat, but all the inwale-frame-side interfaces I've seen were open at either the top or the bottom. Why not plane down a block to fit in the center of your gap between side and inwale? You can adjust its width (and that of its closest neighbors using a chisel) to fool the eye if its slightly offcenter.

Otherwise just add a nice, varnished mahogany cap to the wale and cover them all.

[wwaterman]

I like the cap idea, Bob. That would look really nice. It's obviously a simple fix and no biggy. It's just the fact that I have to live with this mistake now that burdens me - as I plan on having this boat a very long time.

I'll plane down two spacers tomorrow and put one in the actual gap that I made and one where I'm at right now, since I have to correct the spacing so it finishes correctly in the stern.

I know, I know... it's no biggy. It's just that I've been working on the boat obsessively for about a week now and made a mistake. I need to move on. It's just a superficial mistake as well, which piles more guilt on me now that I feel bad..

I'm going to hopefully post pictures of the boat in a few days :)

[Bob Smalser]

I know I've become obsessed. Is this ridiculous, perfectionist crap...

...but I need to hear it from some other folks that have built boats....

....It's just the fact that I have to live with this mistake now that burdens me....


If you want either a kill or a cure, get out the long level and shims, a couple plumb bobs, some string lines, a helper, and measure the entire boat for true.

It ain't. None of them are. The only requirement of perfection in boatbuilding is eye sweet, and from the sound of it, you're already there with a simple fix.

[JimD]

You should fill in all the spaces between the spacers so no spaces remain. Then you should cap it. Then you should finish it bright but be unsatisfied and paint it. They you should decide it looked better without the paint after all and strip it off. Finally, you should just throw away the boat and start a new one.

[Ron Joslin]

Dont worry, I once replaced the front fenders on a 62 VW bug and had to drill the holes to mount the blinkers. I marked the forward hole on both sides and drilled them, then I screwed up and and used this hole for the aft hole on the left side making the blinkers off-set by the length of the blinker assembly. In the 10 years that I had the car after that NO ONE ever mentioned it. Not even the inspection station.

But I saw it every day and it botherd me every day of those ten years.!!!

[Bill Mercer]

It's epoxied on, right? And it's small, meaning not too hard to heat all the way through. . . why not just use a heat source (wallpaper steamer, painter's heat gun, steady drizzle of hot water from the tea kettle) to warm it up until you can pull it off? Epoxy is very thermoplastic.

[rbgarr]

All boats have mistakes in them. Even Noah's, and look Whose standards he was working to meet. The Ark was probably a few cubits off here and there and surely had some dodgy wormwood in it somewhere. ;)

Post pictures of the Wherry, it's good choice and the missing spacer will be a great conversation starter. Boats that are made to look perfect are kind of strange, don't you think? It's like having a Steinway in your living room that no one is supposed to play hard or even touch, just admire. That's what sculpture is for.

[donald branscom]

This reminds me of one night i was playing guitar at this blues club and another musician was singing a song and I noticed the t the words were out of order to the well known song. i told another musician I was standing next to and he said to me "If ther wasn't something wrong with it, wouldn't be the blues."

I assume that one side was finished and then you made the mistake on the opposite side.

The only thing you did not tell us is where the mistake occured.
If it was in the middle (worse case) or if it was near one end.
Lets say it occured 7 blocks from the end you just heat up and remove those blocks and reposition them. It just takes time thats all.
If it occures near the end it is even easier. And if it occured near the middle it just takes more time but after you remove ONE spacer and you see how easy it is you will know it is not a big deal. You just have to remove one spacer with heat gun to find your awnswer.

[wwaterman]

Okay, about this heat gun technique. If I zap the six spacers I need to remove (that I put in after I made the gap), will I damage the fiberglass on the hull?

[Oscarvan]

Okay, about this heat gun technique. If I zap the six spacers I need to remove (that I put in after I made the gap), will I damage the fiberglass on the hull?

AP news: An irate man was being restrained by mental health workers after setting fire to his home today. Surrouding structures were spared, but the workshop was a total loss. As he was being escorted to the white van with the pretty lights he was heard saying: "All I was doing was trying to fix the spacing.....I must fix the spacing!!"

Seriously, I like Bob's idea. Cover it up. Works for most of government and corporate America.

[wwaterman]

Ha.

After getting back from work, I did a, "Screw it!" And just kept going with the spacers.

It looks absolutely fine. Once the inwale is put on over the spacers, I probably won't even be able to tell that there's anything different.

I put a two-inch spacer in the gap (centered between the two 3.5 inch spacers) and another two-inch spacer in the middle to get all the spacers back on track.

IT LOOKS FINE! The boat will be beautiful.

[boatbear]

Ah, see now. It was intentional all along. That bit of irregularity has made the boat beautiful. Well done.

Looking forward to some pics.
Charlie