44 Days til Dora. Houston We Have A Problem

Well, lets just say that supply chain management is not my strength. Every supplier has gone above and beyond on this job. I have had every last inch of this boat either rebuilt, restored, replaced, or re chromed. The last and one the most costly has been Sylvia’s interior. I found the best source of material, and the best guy to do the work. Both are very reputable and very reliable. I had been putting this last step off to the last minute for several reasons. One because I wanted to make sure I had the money to pay the crew, and two, I did not want new leather sitting around getting torn up. So I thought I had timed it right. What I did not take into consideration was communication. No one would make a move until a check was in there pocket. A small detail that cost me 2 weeks. Well. The leather will take 7 weeks to make. And count in the actual work, 2 weeks at best and we will not have the interior ready for Dora. You can not imagine how much this disapoints me since I have, as you know, been at this for 3 years. I am in the deadline business. Hundreds of thousands of dollars depend on me making deadlines. Surfice to say in my 25 years in business, I have not missed one. Except for now. No one here is to blame but me. I take 100% responsibility on this. I have leaned a valuable lesson in small business and folks trust in my word. Folks get burned every day with orders that are said and not followed through on. I understand that as a business person myself.

So, now what? Well, I have been to countless shows, and seen countless perfect boats. But never have I seen a perfect boats inards. Guts. Wiring, Flywheel.

Thanks to Brian Robinson…again… he thought a cool idea would be to show a complete perfect boat with no interior. So Dora is still on. Only in a different way. Actually a better and more interesting way. In a way that is more true to the Woody Boat spirit. In a way that shows it all. The cloth wiring from Rode Island wiring, the staples from Don Ayers, the little tny leather holders for the cables. All of it. The anatomy of a 1941 Chris Craft Barrel Back. The more I think of it, the cooler it is. See you at Dora. Now back to varnishing….

PS. If anyone happens to have any Auqua Marine leather sitting around….