Usually there is a quick and easy way to get around a problem. I've split partially stripped boats apart enough times over the years, that now I know it only takes a few minutes to glue it back together. I've dropped partially glassed boats on the floor and had to repair glass, laid down a complete layer of glass only to have to strip it off, cut strips too short, drilled footbrace holes in the wrong place, cut deck fitting holes the wrong size, cut cockpits in the wrong place, dealt with non-curing epoxy, decks that didn't match hulls, on and on.

Don't let a mistake stop you. Find some other task that needs doing, and keep moving forward. I've come up with some of my best ideas by trying to figure out how to recover from a mistake. Give the mistake a little time to suggest a solution, but try not to walk away from the project for too long lest you never find a way back.

Mistakes are unplanned learning opportunities. When you get it wrong and fix it, you'll never forget that lesson. The more mistakes you fix, the more freedom you have. You add another tool in your bag of tricks!

Experienced builders make mistakes all the time, and we're better at fixing/hiding them.

I was overconfident on stripping the rear deck of a kayak and ended up with short strips not reaching the cockpit.

I could have scarfed in strips and left it, but I couldn't live with the visible joints right there.

So I took my problem and made it a design feature. I added a scalloped shaped veneer behind the coaming to hide the strip joints.

The next kayak I made, the client requested that detail! Now I add it all the time.

I fixed the broken lower bow on one of my North Star kayaks for a client. This was the guy who waxed his boat. I fixed it and structurally it was sound, but there was no way you could miss the jagged break line. What to do? I knew my client would be happy with the fix, but I could not allow the boat to leave my shop looking bad.

I figured if I couldn't totally hide the scar I could direct your attention to something else. I bought a wood burning kit and made veneers of sea turtles and dolphins and placed them so they covered the worst parts of the scar on both sides of the boat. I heard from my customer how he loved it and everyone who saw it loved them too and never noticed the scar.

“Persistent people begin their success where others end in failures.” - Edward Eggleston