Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] What's the biggest problem?

[Michael B Holt <tlohm@juno.com>]

On Tue, 11 Mar 2003 16:07:07 -0500 "Alec Smyth" writes:
>...depends on your definition of "problem!"

LOL!   Good point.

>In the narrow sense, my largest problem (so far!) was probably getting 
>the pressure hull to be really round. Off the truck, one end of the 
>cylinder was oval and the other was a teardrop. And as it was 3/8" 
>thick, it was not very easy to change its mind about its proper shape.

OK, so the pressure hull becomes an intractable problem.   Which
aspect of the hull is not important: the fact is that unless that's 
perfect, the rest of the boat is not as signficant.

>In the a more general sense, the problem is the learning curve. 
>Everything I'm building, I'm building for the first time. That means 
>that everything just takes way too long. I've thrown out parts that 
>took 18 months of to make. My mill-drill is on its third motor since I 
>started this project.    

That's the best point I've ever heard made about this.   

>My lesson learned, in case its of use to anyone contemplating their 
>first boat, is that if you have a custom, non-conventional design in 
>mind, you will probably get there faster by building a boat from plans 
>first (say a K-250) just for the educational value. Failing that, I 
>think the smartest approach is to invest about 3 years in getting your 
>design to the greatest detail possible before you actually order any 
>material.

Thanks.   This is very important, and I don't think anyone has ever
made that point so well in the past.



Mike


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