Laying out the steering wheel! Son of a &!@$! Somehow my one seat is two inches wider than supposed to be, both are 1/4" higher than supposed to be and now I can only accomodate a 17" wheel! Crap. And of coarse, I want to purchase a wheel and they come in 15 inch and 18 inch. I don't get it. I measured three times during lofting, prior to and after cutting and then again upon installation. I still don't know how this happened. It could be complicated (angles of the hull sides, etc). Of coarse, now...all I notice is the wider seat on the starboard side and am reeling over the idea of a small wheel. Oh well, I have to get past it and move on. Unbeleivable how a superficial part like a wheel can show a combination of errors. I guess that is what experience and learning are all about.
Maybe it'll turn into a "feature": more room for stuff on one side, faster steering control, greater lounging area on the Starboard side (better for comfy Starboard-tack sailing!)
Sorry to hear the prob, but perhaps you can make a wheel that's just the right size?
Mike
Jeff take your right angle grinder and contour the seats as needed in the area where the wheel will conflict. Â Then close the resulting the holes with glass and epoxy built up keeping everything nice and smooth. Â Allow enough room for your hand and fingers to clear the seats. Â I think I'd also cut the front out of the narrow seat and make it match the wide one. Â A man on a fast dolphin will never see it! Â Hell, Oyster builds entire boats with only a grinder and a hammer!
Another solution is to extend the steering shaft a bit. Because of the angle, it brings the wheel forward but also upward, allowing you to utilize a wheel with a bigger diameter. The cost is a couple of inches of space in the back of the cockpit.
Dave
Boy - the fact that I ended up with only a 1/2" clearance - also on the starboard side doesn't seem so bad now.
  Im reading a little bit in here about finding things a 1/2" off here and there as your build progresses, as a carpenter & builder a common mistake is after laying a piece out "Cutting on the wrong side of the line" especially with dealing with angle saw cuts, A carpenter learns to keep at least three steps ahead in mind all the time and think "Up-side down and Backwards.
  Using a circular saw you have to look through the blade at times, take the Forward Bulked for example, if you can make a 51" cut with one pass, no problem but if you can't you'll cut both sides to center. On the Port side you cut on the line to the left of the blade and on starboard you do the same and the little miss match in the middle is nothing that a piece of sand paper won't fix but you've lowered the Port side by the thickness of the saw blade, with carbide blades about 3/16" and these little mistakes might compound. For what it's worth.
             Alan
I say switch to tiller steering and wham, no more clearance problems....lol
I wonder if you could increse the angle of the steering shaft, this way raising the wheel to miss the seats?
I do plan on increasing the angle a little bit and possibly extending it out a little bit to get a bigger diameter wheel.Â
I know the golden rule is not to point out mistakes as no one will see them...but man...I just had to vent. Thanks for listening and all the good responses.
Ditto on the tiller. (Or is that just me?)
Did I mention that I have one leg shorter than the other? Nobody notices unless I'm square dancing as I can only allamand- left!
no worries, my friend, all will be fine!
capnpablo