When Little Mistakes Lead to Big Projects

the new paneling in our galley

The other day I complimented Lou on his ability to roll with his mistakes, and to correct them with a new project or solution.

This compliment disheartened him, because one of the local boatbuilders he admires says that the difference between an amateur and a professional is that the amateur creatively corrects his mistakes, whereas the professional doesn’t make any.

Oh well.  I’m glad that once a mistake is accidentally made, Lou is able to fix it.  And the latest of the little mistakes that domino-ed into a much larger project definitely worked in my favor.

Our cabin is made of beautiful mahogany on three of its sides, but the aft side is simple marine plywood. 

When we bought the boat this was painted a dark pine green, and to make it fade into the background and sort of disappear because it’s not particularly pretty, we planned last year to just paint it black, like the hull.  So last year while we were hauled out, we primed it.  But then we never got around to painting it, or ran out of paint—whatever the reason, it never got painted and spent the whole year a battleship-gray color.

It looked awful!

It looked even worse because during last year’s haul out Lou had taken the time to completely strip the cabin sides of their old layers of varnish and old sealants, sand back the mahogany to remove the stains, and rebuild with fresh layers of varnish.  Because three of the cabin sides now looked so amazing, the aft side looked even worse by comparison.

The original aft side of the cabin was green
plywood.  We didn't like it (though we did
like that adorable little bird in the photo).

Then, when we began digging out the rot in the cockpit in March, sections of the plywood side of the cabin were removed.  So the question we asked ourselves was, how could we fix and repair the side of the cabin in the cockpit, while finally finishing it off to look as lovely as the cabin’s other three sides?

Lou settled on the perfect answer: He would create thin pieces of mahogany staving to decorate that aft side, and then varnish them.  That way the wood of the cabin would be protected by the paint underneath, and the visible material of the cabin would be the same material on all four sides.  The aft end however, visible from the cockpit, would have the added decorative element of the paneling.  At first we thought that the aft end would also be oiled instead of varnished, which would be easier for practical reasons—Lou was afraid that if varnished the indentation between each panel would make the varnish there susceptible to yellowing and cracking, which would be more difficult to maintain.  Because we already have plenty to varnish, paint, and maintain, we thought we might cut ourselves a break on that one.  However, when all was ready to go, Lou decided that the mahogany was too beautiful not to varnish…so varnished it is.

Lou crafted the individual strips of mahogany, beveling their edges, and during the install is when Lou made his mistake.  First, Lou cut each strip to size—because of the camber in the deck, the cabin side is not an exact rectangle, and each strip needed a custom height.  By the time this was complete, it was late, and we sat there contemplating how to fasten them to the cabin.  We thought bronze tacks would look nice, but we worried about the nails being difficult to remove if/when we needed to do so.  Slotted bronze screws would be easy to remove, and would be okay to look at if we just put one top and bottom, but it looked like we’d need one in the middle too.  Lou tested a spare strip of mahogany and found he’d be able to drill deep enough to bung it, so the screws would be invisible—so that was perfect.  With the decision made, I went below to read, write, relax—I don’t remember exactly what I was doing, but whatever it was, I was no

Last year we primed it gray in preparation for
a change that never happened.

longer paying attention to the project.

Lou meanwhile continued on—we happened to have some bronze screws that would work.  So he set to it, drilling out the holes and sinking in the screws.  After a few had been done I looked up, and noticed a row of screws coming through the galley!

The other three sides of Evelyn’s cabin are two inches thick, so we forgot for a moment that this backside was just a sheet of marine plywood.  The screws were long enough to go right through—and now that they were there, there was no going back—removing them would still leave the holes.  So in that moment a project that had been set aside for the future because it was not a priority, suddenly became a priority, and my galley got a lovely makeover!

The next night, Lou added “bead board” staving to the galley, going up to just beneath our dishes, so that the bottom portion of the bulkhead will be paneled, then there will be a narrow shelf of trim, then the top will remain varnished.  This is popular in many homes—white paneling from the floor to about three feet up, then a narrow shelf of trim, then a different color on the flat portion of the wall.  We like this look, so Lou made the galley emulate that “country kitchen” look and feel.  He also added a strip of cove molding as trim along the bottom, and then a plain piece of trim along the sides that would hide some wires.  Everything was installed with screws, bunged, then primed and painted a high gloss white to match our ceiling.

So within a few days, thanks to a little mistake, my galley looked better than ever!

The only problem now is that this project has created another ripple effect—now the white Formica that lines

This year Lou decided to add mahogany staving.

the countertop and the remaining galley “walls” doesn’t look so white, and instead looks dingy, dirty, and out of place with the galley’s new theme.  So now we are left wondering what we can do next to improve the look and function of the galley…  Perhaps extend the paneling around?  Perhaps replace the counter top?  Perhaps…?  Apparently the potential for projects never ends!

He then varnished it...

And now it looks amazing!

Meanwhile an "unfortunate" mistake lead to screws infiltrating the galley.
To correct the mistake in this photo, Lou began adding bead board paneling (also in this photo).

And now, it too looks amazing!