Tyler, I am biulding a SW17. Didn't make the bevel mistake, but I think you should just proceed with the bevel on the outside. Fortunately it is just the bottom panel. You might even like the look, or fill and paint the hull.

I did over round some of the joints before glassing the deck, and have some plys showing though. Same as your bevel issue. I was rounding for shape and not the look of the grain. Oh well, minor in the scheme of things. Also, have heard mention the 10' rule. If you can't see it from 10' - it doesn't matter. This is on the bottom and most folks will only see the top.

I also keep having the internal debate: am I building fine furnature or a kayak to use?

Good luck and keep going. 

Joel

Hey, Tyler,

Like Joel I am working on a shearwater 17, my first build.  I sweated blood over the bevels, but the CLC advice was always that bevels are optional.  I like how my boat looks with no gaps on the outside, but I think it would also look great with some epoxy fill lines between the panels, which is what would result from having no bevels.  I agree with Joel - just put it together, the epoxy will hold it, and it will look great when it is done.  If it wasn't on the bottom, I would suggest opening some other seams to make it look symmetrical (i.e. to make it look like you did it on purpose), but for you that won't be necessary.

My main lessons so far as a newbie:  there is no one right way to do things, almost any mistake can be fixed and it will look great, and thinking things through to a fault, is really not a fault.  Really, I've done more thinking and asking questions than I have building, and I am very pleased with the results so far.  I also consider it my anti-alzheimer therapy.  But at some point, as one of my indispensible advisors said, choose one option and don't look back.

Happy building!

Alec

   Hey guys, thanks for the input. Having built a Cedar strip canoe and doing a lot of fine furniture work, I have a hard time letting it go and not be perfect. However, the boat will be used and not a decoration, so I guess I feel better about that. Tomorrow, I will go ahead and assemble as it sits. Once it's assembled, I'll determine if I want to fill it, round over the edges to purposely expose the plys, etc. I hope to make fairly good progress tomorrow.

Thanks,

Tyler

Tyler,

you actually have a long time for the decision of what to do. After you stitch her together, you tack glue the seams, then you remove the wires and fillet the seams, then you glass the cockpit and tape the inside seams, then you attach the deck. THEN you start cleaning up the outside and glass the outside - this will be the time for decisions on filling vs. rounding - varnish  vs. painting ...

Also check out the discussion (somewhere back in the forum) about the forward temp bulkhead on the deck - I did not remove mine like the directions suggested untill the deck was mounted on the hull. Seemed like the deck would just spring to the wrong shape if I tried to remove it.

You will also will find Stitch and Glue very impecise compared with other wood working or boatbuilding, almost a little unnervingly impecise, but it all seems to work in the end.

Anyway - Keep building - Joel

Tyler,

A couple of small adds to Joel's great advice:

Where there is a gap on the outside of the boat, there is the possibilty of tacking on the outside, if tacking on the inside doesn't seem practical.

On my shearwater, I have opted to fashion a removable front bulkhead, so that I can do without the front hatch and keep the front deck unmarred.  The grain on my deck is fabulous, and I did not want to disrupt it with a front hatch.  I have a couple of tricks for doing this.  I agree with Zach that removing the front bulkhead form creates danger of losing the camber on the deck; again, I have a couple of workable ideas for overcoming this (Zach had a good method too), which you can find on the blog thread Zach mentioned, or feel free to email me off the blog.  I'm on yahoo, user name kaerlud-101.

Good luck and enjoy.  To me the process is as great as the product!

Alec

   Thanks for all of the input. Couple of updates. Earlier this afternoon, I decided to get back to it. I started stitching it up, all excited, not worrying about the bevels. I start folding it open to insert the bulkheads and temp forms and on the last one, something just didn't look right. After a little bit of pondering, I realized I had used the wrong panels. I was using the side panels instead of the bottom. Funny part of it is, everything worked fine up until the very last temp form. I don't know if the instruction booklet isn't well labeled or if I was just careless, probably the latter.

Anyways, this means that the wrong sided bevel is no longer on the bottom. It's now on the side where it will be much more visible. I suppose I will just wait till the very end, like some of you have said to determine what to do. I might have to go buy a small roll of wire, wasted almost a whole roll. Oh well I guess. Somewhat disapointed that I may not be able to varnish now, especially since the boat was/is supposed to be a gift.

-Tyler

Tyler, never give up, there are all sort of creative solutions waiting to be tried:

1. chine and deck stripes, either paint or inlay. You can buy some beautiful contrasting wood plys. If fact if they are thin you can just glue them on top of the existing wood before you glass the outside. Might actually be really fun. CLC has a app note on doing inlays; well not really "inlays" more "on-surface-lays". Once coated in epoxy and glass it is hard to tell the difference.

2. paint the hull - most of the wood work folks see is the deck. If the boat is for my wife (and I have not built her one yet - need to finish one first) she would very much want a  red hull). Maybe the reciever of the 'gift' has a favorite color.

4. let the mistake show - fill with wood flour thickened epoxy - most folks will not know it is a mistake, or not care due to the overwelming beauty of the rest of the boat. 

   Tyler,

I did the exact same thing on my shearwater. I ended up just beveling the other side to match after the boat was glued up and before fiberglassing. It looks just fine. 

It's not a mistake, it's an undocumented enhancement  (:-)