Bet you thought I had given up!

It has been way too long. So long, that I bet you thought I had given up on the project. Ha! Not so fast there, partner. Part of the reason for the delay in posts is that life got very busy since last October.  Not that it wasn't busy before. But it got WAY busy. The other part is that I like making boats more than I like blogging about it. :)

My last post was last October. That was 7 months ago! So what happened? You may recall we were building a new home in 2015. We finished that project and moved in last November.

First snow at the new house. 

Of course, there was a never-ending list of to-do's as there is with any new home.

Then, Winter came. Which was mercifully mild.

This was 1/2 hour of snowfall!

 And thankfully, in the new home, my wife demanded that I quit messing up her garage, so we built a special heated garage bay, which is my boat-building shop. A few words about the shop:

Since starting this project in December of '13, I've decided this is my real hobby. There's almost nothing I enjoy more than spending a few hours doing "wood butchery". So it's especially nice to have a dedicated space for that; one that I can walk away in the middle of a task and not have to worry about cleaning everything up every instant. Also nice to not have every other thing in my garage covered with wood dust and epoxy drippings. We built this space with three large doors.  on 3 of the walls, and two people-sized doors on the last wall. One people-door leads into the house. The other leads down to the basement, where I have a dedicated corner for long-term storage of stuff that I may use only sporadically. The three garage-size doors are each different. One is roll-up. One is a sliding barn-door. The last is a pair of swing-out doors. In the past two weeks, I've been able to work with two doors open to the outside. It's so pleasant to listen to the birds, feel a gentle breeze, have a cross-wind to clear the air of dust. I couldn't be happier. I had the concrete floor dropped in this space so that I could install a flush 3/4" ply work surface. It's nicer to walk on. It gives me places to nail things to the floor if needed. And as it gets destroyed over time, I could always, either re-sand, or reinstall a 8x4' panel as needed. Overhead, I had the builder install a recessed steel I-beam. The intent is that eventually I'll have a couple of hoists that can be used to flip hulls over, or perhaps even lift/install an aux engine into a boat...? I bought a few Home Cheapo cabinets and put a formica laminate top on one, and a plywood top on the other. The cabinets are nice for tool and supply storage, the tops give me additional work surfaces. I knocked up a couple of peg-board frames to organize hand tools, clamps, etc. There's a small sink in the corner with hot/cold water. Above that there are shelves for paint, thinners, varnish, and other goopy stuff in a can. A pair of Sonos speakers in the ceiling give me Wi-fi access to music and my beloved NPR. I did run cables for a TV...but really. Really? That feels a little sacrilegious. I want to say it's about an 18'x20' space, with maybe 25' on the longest diagonal. Just about perfect for a solo worker.

Anyway...all in all, a great new space to work.

Puffin jammed into the new work space on her trailer. The trailer is just a little much for in here. Especially since I don't have an articulating tongue.  

Let me get this up, and then I'll fill you in on the current state of affairs with Puffin.