Boat Builders Mis-Haps

[Dave M]

I thought it might be fun to start a thread of humor. I know a lot of boat builders read this forum.

Tell us all the funniest moments you have had when building a boat. Give us a story of any mishaps, and all the little things that make building a boat so much fun.

I will start out with one:

On a J Hydro I built recently, I had the decks down, and the decks had been an SOB, took my dad and I four hours to just get them on after they were fitted. The boat was just fighting us I think ! Anyways, work had me traveling the next week and the boat was a birthday present for a lovely talented young lady. So after the decks were on, I went over Sunday morning to sand and fair it all in, and planned on coating it with West and it would be ready to be rigged when I got back. Her birthday was coming on fast... Anyways, I grab my belt sander to fair the decks back on the edges; I plug it in on the overhead retractable cord thing. I sand one side flush, and grab the dam cord to move to the other side, and I hear a crash..... I know what it is but I am afraid to look. Sure enough, that beautiful looking faired in deck has a huge hole in it, in two places..... The cord thing bounced.....

Since work had me traveling the next week I would not be able to get ahead on this project ! I can honestly tell you that I might have started drinking a beer before noon that day............

At any rate, her mother chipped in and I fitted up a new section and later that week her and my dad glued it in place and saved the day !


Anyone else care to share those moments in the shop that makes building and repairing such a fun thing ?

[David Weaver]

A little too much boat

I remember a story about Gary Pugh building a 7 litre in a barn/gargage that belonged to his neighbor. Gary finished the boat and then wanted to take it out of the barn/garage. But before he could remove it, he had to open-up the passage way, since the boat was too big to fit through it!

[jsilvestri]

Just this past weekend. I was belt sanding the airtraps on my hydro and the cord came undone from the wall. When I plugged the sander back into the wall, I forgot I had the trigger locked while the sander was laying on the bottom, it took off straight across the bottom and slammed into the opposite airtrap and cracked it. So, my new boat isn't even done and I'm repairing it already. Oh well, nothing a little West won't fix.

The first CSR I built, about 5 years ago, I built in my dad's basement and it was tight down there. So, when I put the top stringers on the boat, I couldn't step back far enough to see if the curve of the stringer was what I wanted. I went ahead and finished the boat, took it out of the basement to the garage, stepped back and looked at the boat and didn't like the finish of the top decks. So, I carried the boat back down to the basement, cut the top and side decks back off, recalculated them and put them back on. That was frustrating. But, the finished product looked better and was what I wanted. I'm hoping I don't have anymore mishaps.

[Abbott Racing]

This one dates to my fathers era, he and his buddies built a few boats over the winter in his friends parents basement. They had the boats finished and were waiting for spring to get them out, well apparently there was a heavy flood in the spring and they went down to check on the boats and they were floating around the basement. Their next adventure was taking the boats out, of course they didn't fit up the stairs, so they had to open the foundation around one of the windows and hand the boats out 1 by 1, then rebuild the window etc......

Remembering this story, before I built my son's J/A hydro I took every measurement possible plus made a frame out of 2x4's (the size of the boat and did a test run to make sure if I built it, that it would go out

[csh12M]

Grandpa....

My Dad's father, my Grandpa was a Rag Bagger (as he called himself) a sailboater to the rest of us. He liked to build his own sailboats.....like a few people have already mentioned he never measured the opening of the stairs in the basement. When finished he had a sailboat in the basement he could not get out. It was before I was born but everytime I hear the story it reminds me of the sailing ships in the bottles. They excavated one side of the house and knocked out the block basement wall to get it out......sounds crazy eh, those of us that have built a boat can understand why you would go to all the trouble.

My grandpa just passed away last month, anytime I see a ship in a bottle it will remind me of him!

Later,
CSH12M

[bill boyes]

A long time ago early 1960's I went over to Macel's house in Compton Calif. He was building his first boat a hydro. I think Ron Hill was with me. Anyway he had it on the Jig upside down and something just didn't look right. I kept looking it over and Marcel started to get mad at me and started to mumble something in French. Then it hit me he installed the transom backwards. More *%^$#$ French. The bottom was not on so he was able to fix it. Marcel went on to build many more good boats. A coulple weeks ago i was repairing Pat Gleason and Kyle Bahl's Bezots. I was about done except for the deck. Well i fit the deck and matched it to the deck that was not damaged. What the heck, The old deck was 3mm and i used 4mm. Dang so the next morning back in the shop i got another 4x8 sheet and made another. %$#%##@ it was 4mm also. The 3rd attempt i got it correct.

[hydrobuilder]

Stretching the deck

Hi I usually don't like to talk about my screw-ups but what the heck, its been 30 years since I built my last hydro so I think I'm allowed.

As I was attaching the decks to my "B" pickle fork I had fitted them by bending the deck down and marking with a pencil on the back side, since I was tight on the amount of plywood, I wanted to to waste a minum so I trimmed with-in 1/2 inch of the tracing. The problem occurred when I actualy started attaching the deck, as I worked from the back to the front stapling it in place I noticed that I was running out of wood on the outside of the sponson. When pulling the deck down its bending a compoung curve, its a bear to do anway. I was atleast 1" short, so I pulled the deck up back to the rear of the sponson and stated again. When I finished all my tugging and pulling, nailing instead of stappling I was still a little short. Thank God for wood filler and paint.


Paul Luippold 6B

[Bill Huson]

the Cat attack!

Many moons ago I had just finished rolling on a nice juicy coat of west resin on a 20ssH deck. While I was enjoying a celebratory beer and watching the resin flow out to a pristine shine, Shea Kitty ambled into the garage. Uh-oh, a curious cat, and sho `nuff, Shea Kitty jumped up on the deck! Did you know that cats can display expression? First, the ol' WTF!!! Then, as Shea Kitty attempted to dig claws to stop her slow slide down the sloped deck, the ol' OH S***!!! Despite the ruination of that perfect finish, I was laughing so hard I almost wet my pants. Took Shea Kitty the better part of a week to chew/gnaw her paws resin free. From then on Shea Kitty watched the boat building from a nearby shelf that overlooked the scene.

[Merc1]

Boats Being stuck

I wish there could be some way to get an accurate count on how many boats have been stuck in the basement! There is one in my family, The number has got to be staggering!

[crankbearing]

built Backwards

My screw-up. Two winters ago I was copying a 25 boat for Bill Keegan and fixing the coaming side in one of there J boats and if that was not enough I started I thought that I wanted to start building my DSH Roper as well. I did and got it in the jig and all built faired and ready for the bottom as I kept looking at the drawing on the wall and at the boat something did not look right upon a closer look the offset of course I built into the wrong side. OOPS tear it all apart and start over.

Another in 1979 or so in Carleton Place, Ont Dave Rawson was the boat racing stop over and I think he had two boat on the go and needed to build another so he started by ripping the carpet up in the dining room and securing the jig to the hardwood floor and then had to remove the dining room window to get the boat outside.

Regards,

[Dave M]

Hilarious !!

Oh my gosh, the kitty incident........... nice !! I too enjoy the celebratory beer after finishing up a nice glue job. Wait until you hear the sponson outside strip snapping an hour later after you clamped it..... sounds like a 12 gauge shotgun !!

Another of my stories, I hope I don't have too many........ I will never tell....

The very first boat I ever built, I think about 5 or 6 years ago, a DMH from a Sorenson Kit. Darrell hooked me up well. After what I am sure Darrell thought was many annoying calls from an uneducated rookie boat builder, I got it finished. Looked great. I was happy my dad and I had done it !!

Well first test run went well, the boat won its very first race, we were celebrating that evening, and loading up the boats, I picked up the nose and something rattled....... WTF ???? I reached through the lightening holes and could not reach it. Big rattle though...... Ran it with the rattle for a couple years ! Finally I blew it over backwards; ironically at the same place it won its debut race, and busted the left deck a little. Right over the turn fin to, tough spot to scarf back in. So I ripped the deck back. What did I find that was making all the rattle ? A pair of honking pliers I had used to pull staples, big mothers to !! Now the standing joke with my close buddy’s home is to check their boats before I deck them to make sure I am not leaving anything in them !!

Funny thing is, I think my dad and I were arguing about which one of us lost the pliers when we needed them at the races........ turns out they were packed in the trailer...... just not in a likely spot........

[Jeff Akers]

great thread

Great thread , I'm LMAO but lerning at the same time . I may print this out and use it as sort of a check list as I'm still building my first boat. Keep the stories coming.

[Dave M]

Come On guys

I know Runne, and Hemp lurk on this board, let’s see some of your stories ! I think Giles is on here to sometimes. Darrell Sorenson on here to.

I bet we could fill a book with the stories from all the funnies we do when building these things.


Here is another of my funny moments. I was building a D boat, got the bottom all true and looking good. At the time I was wondering about new methods to make West System smooth out, as I HATE sanding. A friend of mine suggested thinning it with Denatured Alcohol. So I ran up to the local Walgreen’s and bought a bottle...... had to get some Labatts Blue Alcohol to.... . Well I filled in all the staple holes with the normal wood putty, I think it was Plastiwood brand. I pumped out the West, and then poured some of the Denatured Alcohol in it to thin it. My buddy had told me it would allow the West to blow out well and come out smoother than a babies butt. I was excited to, this meant no real sanding !! I got her done. Finished up the boat, performed a leak test and that boat became the best dam lawn sprinkler of all time !! The alcohol ate up all the wood putty that filled in the staple holes ! What my friend neglected to tell me is his source used to put a thin coat of straight West on the bottom first, sealing it and sanding it smooth.... then thinned the West ! DOHHHH !!!! Man that was a lot of work going through EVERY staple hole on the bottom drilling out the wood putty and refilling! I think the Labatts Blue was a much better investment that night than the denatured alcohol !

[arltralite]

the biggest mistake I ever made was thinking I could make a living building boats

[Dave M]

Indeed

the biggest mistake I ever made was thinking I could make a living building boats

Mat,

I have to agree with you there. It does provide a little extra income though. I prefer to think of boat building as a labor of love rather than making a living. For the hours builders pour into a boat the amount buyers are willing to pay does not provide much on the old hourly wage.

You have to have some funny stories to tell with that carbon stuff ? I know it can cut the crap out of you and the slivers from it sting a lot !