A little to the right...

Overall, the process of drilling the hole for the bow eye on the Zip has been better than it was for the Utility. 

Or has it been?

The hole is certainly straighter and more centered. But, there's "more centered" and there's "centered." This is not centered:

As you can see, the hole is just offset from the centerline. One should really drill these things front-to-back!

The bow eye hole for the Utility may have been a little askew...

...but it least it came out in the center of the bow!

So, not wanting the bow eye to be blatantly off-center on the Zip, I decided to move the hole. Here's how I went about it:

First, I cut four 3/8" bungs from some scrap mahogany...

I sanded each of them flat on one side. Then I glued all of them end-to-end with JB Weld Marine Epoxy...

I used a round file on the flat side to partially hollow out the flat side. The idea was for this to serve as a guide for the drill bit when re-drilling.

I coated the outer edge of the new shim with the JB Weld Marine Epoxy, and pressed it into place in the stem. In order to keep it held in position with pressure against the contact surfaces, I wrapped a small file with waxed paper & pushed it into the pilot hole...

Then I slowly re-bored the hole progressively with 1/8", 3/16", and 1/4" drill bits...

And finally, with a 3/8" bit...

That should do it. I hope.

So, WHY did I drill this before the boat is even planked? Because, drilling it after the fact was a real pain last time. Now, before the stem is even faired, the center surface is flat and easier to drill. Plus, I can get all the way around the stem with no obstructions.

WHY did I drill it back-to-front? It wasn't the wisest move in terms of precision, that's for sure. The simple reason is that I already had a (mostly) centered hole partially drilled in the back anyway. I decided to just drill it the rest of the way through. No, I wouldn't recommend it.

By the way... Happy New Year.