Pre-drilled holes too far apart

When I bought my Chesapeake 18 kit, six years ago, the holes for the Keepers foot braces had been pre-drilled.  It turns out that the pre-drilled holes are 37 mm apart while the holes in the ends of the Keepers braces are 36.7 mm apart!  Has anyone else had this problem?  Is the only reasonable solution to epoxy over one of the pre-drilled holes on each side and then to drill new holes?  Is it possible that the adjustable aluminum foot braces that CLC sells might have holes 37 mm apart? Would appreciate some guidance.

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RE: Pre-drilled holes too far apart

I had the same problem when I installed new foot braces.  My new foot braces were less forgiving for my holes being a hair off.  I refilled and drilled.

 Kim

RE: Pre-drilled holes too far apart

Thanks Mr. Kim. 

RE: Pre-drilled holes too far apart

We discovered the same thing when building from our old plans.  It looks like the foot braces have changed ever so slightly.  Our solution was to chamfer the holes in the foot braces and then angle the screws slightly to get them to bite in the footbrace holes. Start one screw at the bow end then the other, then tighten both. Once screwed tight there was no issue with extra holes, extra epoxy or concerns about strength of the remaining wood.  A little RTV was appled to make sure there were no leaks. 

On two of the boats we had no issue becuause we used the aluminum footbraces and the stud kits.  They are easy to use and seem as strong if not stronger than the drill-through braces.  With the stud kit you have to drill the foot brace rails regardless of which kind you use so I could not tell you what the hole spacing was before we drilled them for studs.  Hope this helps

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