: Classic Boat Kits sent me a set of forms that were way off, blamed
: the designer, and wouldn't take them back.

Hi Folks.

This dispute regards the Firestar.

Well I just heard about this and the drawings I received from Rob Mack`s are indeed off. My drawings are the original in 2002.
Station /10 &11 are not symetrical in the drawings. I make my templates from original half masters which I then use as a template
to create a perfectly symetrical mirror imaged template. Stephen Troy received perfectly symetrical forms. Rob Mack`s had corrected this in the past
but never informed me of the change. So naturally my number 10 &11 forms would not match. The new drawings that Stephen had received were corrected but he did receive perfectly symetrical forms and I would like to add that these were the only two forms in dispute. Stephen was just looking for an excuse to get his money back. All other forms were correct.
I tried to explain this to Stephen and he would not listen. Just think of all the people before Stephen that built their own forms from Rob`s incorrect drawings. They all have crooked
tails on their Firestars. Let sleeping dogs lie I say.
So I will be posting a few photos as proof on my site when I start making changes. I will not be held accountable for another designers errors. Even UPS agreed with me in this matter stating that the problem lies with the designer. When I get a set of plans from a designer to make templates I assume they know what they are doing and that they are perfect. But I still make mirror imaged templates to provide perfectly symetrical forms. Rob Mack`s has even admitted that he made a mistake. He does not use a CAD program like Nick or Vaclav at One Ocean Kayaks which will always provide perfectly mirrored drawings. Every one makes mistakes and it is not the first time that a designer has made a change and not notified me. Unfortunately I take the fall for some one else`s errors. All designers have a moral obligation to inform their business associates if a change has been made but apparently Rob forgot to inform me or any of the other kit builders. It happens. As soon as Rob sends me a revised copy I will redo number 10 & 11 even though it is not really necessary since my forms are perfectly mirror imaged.
Unfortunately Stephen is a novice and does not realize that he received perfectly mirrored forms, and proceeded to cause not only himself but others a lot of grief.
I come from a formal training in Architecture and Industrial design and I design in a micro as well as a macro world within the precision of a swiss watch. I take my work seriously.
I have over 1000 master templates in my shop and they are all perfect!. I think it is time I start to design my own line of kayaks but I am too busy designing Architecture as well as
milling processes.
By the way I am the person that revolutionized the strip milling process in North America and forced all my competitors to change their process of making strips on a table saw
to making them on a moulder. No one yet has achieved my accuracy or is willing to provide the number of various sizes that we do. One of the reasons for this is that we are owner- operators of our own machinery and do not sub out to a middleman with conflicting interests. That is why in all likelyhood we have the lowest prices in North America and by default the world! Sorry folks, I just had to toot my horn here. Stay tuned with some neat products coming up on our website in the near future.

All the best.

Peter Schultz
Classic Boat Kits
613-832-0881