The Expedition Single on the cover of my book looks like crap. There are staple holes everywhere, gaps between the strips, divots in the wood, the fiberglass shows through the varnish, there are clouded spots and I am generally embarassed to be seen on the same beach with the boat.

All I ever get is complements on how beautiful the boat looks. All I can think about is how much better I can do.

No matter how hard you try, you will always be able to do better. If there is such a thing as a perfect boat and it takes you 1 month to get boat that is 50% perfect, it will take 2 months to get one that is 75% perfect, 4 months for 88%, 8 months for 94%. You will never achieve perfection and only experience can speed up the task.

Finish your boat, put it in the water and start paddling. The boat you have will turn out beautiful. If you want a better boat, build another one. Spending time trying to get the current boat better will only eat into the time you could spend paddling, or building your next boat. Be warned that your next boat will not be perfect and you will be compelled to try again.

I have built kayaks since 1986 and have yet to build a boat I am completely happy with. Every single boat I have built has given me a lot of pleasure.

: We built the hull crooked, the two end forms that lie perpendicular to the
: other forms and lie on each end of the strongback were out. I wrote to
: Nick and he suggested we remove the hull from the strongback, realign the
: offending forms, saw down the length of the keel for a foot or so each
: end, put the hull back onto the now straight strongback cramp and glue
: hard against the realigned forms. This worked the boat is now straight,
: the only problem is one side ended up lower at the bow and stern and had
: to be planed down to line up with the keel and built up with a cheater to
: match the sheerline. Now I am left with a flat keel at the bow and stern
: that lies to one side of the centreline and is about ¼ of an inch wide,
: how on earth am I going to achieve a satisfactory. finish here??? I did
: write to Nick and it didn’t seem to him that it was a great problem but
: the more I look at it the more it worries me. What to do??