The Confessional

[Adrian Hall]

I do so admire the skills of my fellow builders, and enjoy sharing their successes. But what about their failures? Is it only me who makes stupid mistakes? I once spent time craftng a perfect scarf joint on a stringer only to cut it off to length on the wrong side of the bulkhead, leaving it too short! Or there was the time I tried to start the jammed blade of a circular saw by flicking it with my thumb. It took weeks for the wounds to heal.
Matters came to a head yesterday which really question my competence. While moving the backbone of my Tiki 38, I heard a loud crack from around the notch for bulkhead 6. The idiot that I am has nearly broken my boat in two! I plan to pour epoxy into the crack, brace it somehow, and hope for the best.
So come on everyone, 'fess up and make me feel better about myself. What is the most stupid thing you have done while building your boat?

[Russell and Janet Puryear]

Chuck Valley said:

"... it's important to see the hand of the craftsman in the finished work..."  

Not my hand I hope!  Nor anyone else's.  

But you know those offsets on the bulkhead locations on a Tiki that keep them all perpendicular when you fold it up and insert them?  Any idea what happens if you go the wrong way? Next time I'll get a long distance look *before* i fillet them in.  But the flush saw function of the detail sander from Harbor Freight works wonders.  All better now. (sorta)

[Budget Boater]

I am surprised that no one has confessed that their biggest failure was building a boat in the first place...

[Chuck Valley]

Put me on that list, also the one about marriage and having kids, building my own house, getting the wrong job, and not eating properly. Hell, if we knew how things could  turn out, we wouldn't do anything. Meanwhile we plod on....................life is what happens while you're making plans. 

[Mike Haromy]

That's mine.   Could have bought any number of used, excellent boats for less than the cost of the plywood.

 
Budget Boater said:

I am surprised that no one has confessed that their biggest failure was building a boat in the first place...

[Jörg Paschen]

I m so glad, my Idea was just to build a " small " Boat, but I must confess I will not doing it again. 

So my  mistake was: I build the Rudder-head to the wrong side. I notice this 2 years after building in the moment I start fixing them.

I turned them now.

Maybe the real big mistake was to start building in a carport with no possibility to heat. That delays a lot.

Budget Boater said:

I am surprised that no one has confessed that their biggest failure was building a boat in the first place...