Goofs, Blunders, and other statements of humanity
There is the old adage, "Haste Makes Waste". I abhor waste, so I make my mistakes very slowly and carefully. (For those without a sense of humor, I'm being facetious). In reality, mistakes happen. Hopefully, by sharing the following, others won't have the same experiences. Maybe, one of the fixes, can help someone overcome a similar situation with a minimum of expense and agony. At least people will know that you don't need to be a great craftsman to build a boat unless you want a finely crafted vehicle.
According to the construction notes, the frame members are laid out on a "layout board" which has the centerline and setup level marked. The members are secured (nailed in place) to hold them accurately during fastening. The notes clearly state to mark the setup level on the frames before lifting them from the setup board. Frames 2 and 3 were fully assembled and neatly stacked out of the way before I realized I had forgotten to mark the setup level. Fortunately I had paid the price to have the stringers milled to spec. Since the floors for both these frames are 3 5/8" from the setup level, the exact width of the stringers, I only needed to lay a stringer across the foors and mark the setup level. I have been very careful to check the notes frequently, always before beginning and ending a construction step.
As I was studying the construction notes for attaching the breasthook to the stem I realized that the notes for attaching frame #5 to the stem did not seem to make sense. Now, granted that I won't be connecting frame #5 for a couple weeks, but, I figured I better stop and cure the confusion. I'm glad I did. I used push pins to trasfer the patterns to the stock. In marking the lines I missed a couple a pinholes and cut away the stem section to which frame #5 was to be screwed. The thought of wasting all that 3/4" marine plywood caused me to spend a day in creative problem solving. A piece has been fitted in and supported with 4X7 blocks of 3/4" marine ply on either side. As the photos become availble I'll publish this fix on the site.
When I was painting MattianI left the garage door open while I went to work. Upon returning home I discovered the dogs had walked around the freshly painted hull and effectively flocked it. Lesson not learned. April 17, I saturated 3 frames for Song Weaver and left the garage door opened. Our Shepherd/Husky mix decided to take a nap in the garage. Upon returning from a soccer game we discovered the frames had received the same fur treatment as Mattian 6 years ago. Prove again to the old adage, "We are destined to repeat the mistakes we don't learn from."
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