19 Jan 19:
The Prep Season is upon us, a good time to review the Restoration Problem Solving Matrix. Enjoy the Season! And holler if you need help with a project.
So we have tips that will help you get over a some boat builder worries, 1) Staring at the part that you are working on and trying to decide if it meets someone's arbitrary universal standard, and/or 2) Making a mistake and trying to decide if it needs to be fixed.
Here are the criteria we use.
1. Galloping Horse (GH):
The Skipper's criteria is "Would you notice it from a galloping horse?" She got this valuable tip from her Grandma. It may be self explanatory, but imagine if you rode by the boat on a galloping horse, would the piece in question be noticeable? If not, then continue on. If so, review the following additional criteria before making a decision.
2. Great Spirit (GS):
So maybe you did notice it when you galloped by. My Native American criteria is that only the Great Spirit can make something perfect, so it is best to leave small mistakes in the work as tribute. Plus if your boat gets stolen and recovered by the authorities, you'll be able to point out all the mistakes to them as proof of buildership. That is of course, unless they point all of them out to you first.
Which leads to our last, final and "ultimate authority" criteria, which shall be the tie breaker if you are stuck after applying the Galloping Horse and/or Great Spirit decision criteria...
3: If They Don't Like It... (ITDLI):
If They Don't Like It (ITDLI)...Capn Jack always says that if someone looks at your finished boat and says they don't like it, then they don't get to go on the boat :)
The ITDLI criteria is helpful for decisions for items that you may not even have had a hand in, for example, the design of our Drascombe Lugger jib furler. We were rigging the Lugger on the ramp one day and some landlubber walked up and said "Roller reefing on that boat is asinine." Skipper abandoned her duties as PIO and walked away. I ignored him. We assigned the ITDLI criteria to the Ramp Ranger and from that point there was no concern about offering to take him sailing.
So we hope these tips become helpful tools in your tool box, they have saved us hours of moaning chair time.
Fair Winds
Skipper and Clark
Gratuitous boat picture showing primary propulsion system of BARBASHELA, long leaf pine powered by Skipper.
See also Moaning Chair
