[Alfwine]

What you are all forgetting is that there is never one way to solve a problem. Take ship building, Ulmo could have invent airplanes instead, or submarines. It is not nessecary for the valor to have had these crafts perfactly refined beforehand and ready in a box to hand the elves. Perhaps it was Ulmo's on the spot solution to a problem (the elves needed to cross the water) he could have solved it other ways, but this was how he did it, so for us, who have been shown the/a solution, it seams only natural (of course build boats).

As for trial and error being nessecary, these are valar we are talking about. They have a very great knowlage of Tolkiens world (they built it). they know in detail everything from available resources to physics to just the way things work. even a modern man whith enough expiriance in "the way things work" can take up a new craft and have a relative success the first time. For instance, I have spent most of my life building things with my hands, I recently decided to build a yew longbow and wouldn't you know it, my first try went fine, tillered properly shoots well, no masterpiece, but good enough.

Now I didn't invent longbows but it just goes to show, if Ulmo wanted to get elves across the water (Ulmo knew a heck of a lot about water!) and decided he wanted to use ships, I think he probably could have built fiesable boats his first go (he is an increadibly powerful knowlageable and skilled being after all. he probably could have run design simulations in his head before even putting axe to wood).