Vayu Restoration

Ok so maybe I didn't but I really want to make it look like I did. One of my projects this weekend was to fix the repair I made last winter. Ok I hate to admit I screwed up but it does happen from time to time. Last winter being a really cold one I thought I would shoot some great stuff expanding foam insulation into the space between the plywood hull liner and the hull outboard of the V berth. Worked fine on the starboard side but when I did the port side it pushed the plywood away from the hull at the bottom. The result was that it made the width of the berth smaller and the cushions no longer fit right and rode up on the hull side. This made it hard to sleep as I was always rolled to the middle of the berth. Sort of like sleeping in a bowl. And to add insult to it all the middle of the berth is where the V part is and open so my head wanted to fall into this opening.
Ok so much for insulation, the problem was how to fix it without tearing the boat apart to do it. I toyed with many thoughts. The first choice would be to pour lacquer thinner or acetone into the holes I used for putting in the foam. But of course after trying a couple of sample pieces of foam I found the chemicals had no effect. I thought acetone would dissolve almost any type of expanded foam but not in this case. So plan #2 I could completely remove the plywood and then take out the foam but the problem is that last year I installed some nice new upper lockers that would have to be removed as well. No way was I tearing all that out! In the end I decided to cut a strip about 4” off the bottom of the plywood. This way I could reach up and pull out the foam. This cut line would be hidden by the cushion and I could put a discreet piece of trim over it. Although not easy this method did work. I have a few scraps and cuts on my hands from reaching up but it did solve the problem.
I have always thought the true difference between someone who is good at something and someone who is really good is not in the fact that the really good person never screws up. Hell we all screw up no matter how good you are. The really good person knows how to gracefully recover from their screw ups. If you can screw up and make it look like you meant to do it or at least not have your screw up stand out then you are truly achieving a level above most. Ok so I am not going to claim to be among the elite but I do hope I am getting to the point where my screw ups do not stand out like the sore thumb one often gets while screwing up!
So next time you screw up take a few deep breaths and think about how you can fix things and make it look like that is what you wanted to do all the time.
Wayne Canning, AMS