BYYB Forums

Ok folks, here's your chance to really help out all of us beginning builders.

Most of us have some kind of garage, shed, or other building that we are going to use to build our boats. Though I suppose there are a number of folks using tarp structures (Brian comes to mind).

But whether its a stick-framed building or a tarp on pipes there are surely some key things that you guys have learned along the way that would make the building experience go more smoothly.

What kind of tools have you found to be essential? How much space do you really need (length by width)? What about work benches and "messy areas" for glue, epoxy, etc? Storage for chemicals?

Right now I am in the process of making my space for this project. I figure that if it is set up right then the whole process of building my boat will go much better. I think I can speak for a number of us new builders when I say that if we can get off on the right foot from a "boat shed" standpoint then maybe we won't have to spend valuable time making adjustments later on - thus being able to focus all of our limited time solely on building the boat.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts and experience.

David

David, as you mentioned, this is so varied.  I used a single car garage for this boat, but almost every other one I built it was outside with no roof but the (hopefully) blue sky.  I would work on the boat, then cover it with a tarp if weather threatened.  Not ideal, but in it's own way, very pleasant.  For inside you want walk around room and a small bench.  On the weekender I really did most of the cutting of wood outside on a workmate and assembled inside.  The beauty of small boat building is you don't need a fancy setup to make a go of it.  If you have one, all the better.

There are some key issues with work spaces to consider.

You want a place that's easy to keep clean. You'd be surprised how much time you spend just removing dust and debris, plus how much this can affect the results of your work.

Good lighting is a must, natural is the best, but not always practical or in the best location. For general work, over head lighting, with "task" lighting (portable lamp) to drag around as you might need it. With fairing, smoothing and painting you want the light at a hard angle to the work. This makes long shadows in low and high spots easily identifiable. You can't fair or smooth a surface unless you can identify the lows and highs. Overhead lighting makes this much more difficult, so arrange lighting on the walls (like seen in most paint booths) while fairing and painting.

Storage is another issue. You'll have bits and pieces left over from cutting or awaiting installation. You need a way to keep these things from harm and out of the way for building. You have all sorts of supplies and tools that also need to be out of the way, so handy arrangements for stowing gear and materials is a must.

    We ordered a 10'x20' canvas garage for the assembly of "JoeDee's Song" that should be here any day and a friend that has had one for many years for his shop expressed the importance of a thick layer of plastic on the ground with cheap plwood kept from moving with metal banding and screws, the plactic prevents mother nature from trying to evaporate through the roof and having condensation problems on the inside and the plywood for a flat work surface and cleaning.  I plan on doing most of the cutting outside and assembly inside, I've built homes for many years ans setting up a pair of saw horses for skill, jig and table saw use takes minutes.
    A few feet away we have a metal 10'x13' storage shed for pre-fabed and smaller parts made and not needed until later.  I think I understand the need for proper lighting with the fairing and smoothing thing, when hanging and finishing sheetrock (drywall) we do the same by holding an unglobed bulb against the wall, (do not try this at home because you will see just how uneven and rough your walls and ceilings really are).

    Let us know what you think about this plan.

  Alan & Franny











           

(04-16-2010, 02:28 PM)Alan Mallett link Wrote: [ -> ]     We ordered a 10'x20' canvas garage for the assembly of "JoeDee's Song"

I am building a 15' sailboat in a one car garage.  Its pretty tight.  The more space you have around the boat the better off you are.  I did most of my cutting on the floor of the garage.  No need for saw horses.  A good dolly on which to put your boat is a good investment especially if you have a tight space.  The dolly allows you to roll the boat out and roll it from side to side.  That way you can maximize the space you have on one side or the other.  A long bench is wonderfull. 

I confirm all other members advices and I join these follows:

1. Neighbours: You (and all us) don't realize how much moisy are our tools. I knew this when, one evening, a motorcyclist neighbour came bare-chested to my garage and explained it to me.
2. Rain and water: the worst storm of this century will occur during your construction! Remember at the end of your work session to let  always wood up enough from the ground, the same for electric tools and cables, plugs off from sockets.
3. Saw dust: remove it from the to floor to work better and to avoid fire, blow away the fine dust from everything to protect your lungs. Use a mask as much as possible and remember that the fine dust will remain on you and on your clothes when you came back home and your wife won't be happy of it. I minimized, but not completely avoided, this last problem by wearing those thin and light painting suits. They are great! in the summer I wore them directely on the skin and they protected me from mosquitos, in the bad season they gave me an extra protection from cold without limitate my movements at all.

Gianluigi

Well I just got a 12 x 25 foot portable carport/Boatshed. It just fits my vac, lengthwise and leaves a little walkaround room on the sides.
What i did to be able to move the boat around my yard with ease, was to Build a building dolly for the keel and Boat, But I installed large phnumatic tires, very cheap like between 5 and 10 Bucks each, 2 swivel and 2 are stationary. so I can roll it out into the yard to work on it or roll it under cover. It is surprisingly light to move about.

  I do keep my table saw out there as well as my power tools, they stay inside a rubbermade tub, my epoxy and tools are stored the same way. I had some of my plywood stored on pallets beside my house wrapped up in tarps. which worked well, But I did use merenti so not really sure how that would pan out for other species.

I find it a little tight, But I pull out saw horses and the table saw out into the yard as much as possable. And it does work quite well.
at the moment the boat is out in the yard with a tarp over it lol as I like the green overhead Lighting above but for inside I did use some of those 2 dollar conical clip on lights you can get in any hardware store. and I do have a hallogen Light on a stand to really brighten things up.
As for flooring all I did was to smooth out the dirt I set the tent over. Oh! I also bought a huge blue tarp and cut it up into sides for the complete boatshead. Better weather resistance, and you can use portable heat sources in the winter and keep fairly warm.

  Brian.

I forgot, but I did like Brian above did, I built the keel into a form/base that I could roll as needed,  really eased the job of moving her around and getting her outside to work or turn over.

Here is a picture of the dolly I Made for the boat.
i used Joist hangers to make the horizontal supports, and put the keel on the box befor i installed the supports, i then marked where the cross supports were going to land (because of the rounded shape of the keel) and I installed the joist hangers in those locations here is a pic just b4 I put the wheels on.


and a hard to see the wheels but they are fat tires that ya blow up. i will try to get a better pic of my wheels. I bought them at harbor frieght.




Brian.

If you make a cradle (like above), just remember to make it no wider then the boat bottom, otherwsie you'll be barking your shins everytime you walk past or work on the boat.