Setting up shop

A place to work

Before I get ahead of myself in building SV Sojourn, I know I need to set up a shop. The idea is to have a clean dry area to work that is not too cramped, but not too large to become unmanageable both financially or physically.

One must consider the weather to be dealt with. How strong will the winds be and from what direction? How hot or cold will it be? Will I need heat or even cooling of some type? Or both?

How far is it away from the house? The electric? Will it be secure?

Think ahead. When the boat is finished, will I have to crane it? Or maybe I can build the shop so a truck can back up to it.

What about the walls? I like having a workbench and a back board to hang things. All these things need to be considered in planning your shop.

Building a temporary shop 

At minimum, the shop should be a few feet longer than the boat and about 12 feet wider(6 foot each side)

In the spirit of "Cheap" I have in mind a framed wall section along one side, and then pvc pipe construction for the rest of the structure. Seen in the Image above is a plan that I think will work. Some variation will be applied as the center poles will only get in the way and not be very feasible.

The roof and sides will be covered with vinyl tarps. I will dig a drain ditch around the base to avoid water collecting inside the shop. I will plan on framing in a section on the roof or high up on the side so I can put in a stove pipe for a woodstove as it gets a bit nippy here in the winter.

I can run power from the house to the temporary shop. I could even run water but not really necessary.

I may spread a load of gravel on the floor just to keep down the dirt and dust. Maybe even mix in some dry concrete mix and then water and pack it down to make a poor mans concrete,

Where I plan to place the temporary shop, it is perpendicular to the driveway so the boat would need to be turned to face toward any truck and trailer that it is to be loaded on.

The plan would be build some sort of loading ramp. The boat would already be on a cradle with large wheels attached and can be pivoted to face outward and rolled out and onto a trailer.

I am planning on having enough room for table saw, work bench etc to be placed on one side. My neighbor tells me if I expect him to ever come over and help, I better put in a bar!

Many things are possible if you put in a bar!

One final thought, I have a pallet stacked high with recycled snow fence slats. I think 1/4 inch x 1.5 inch x 3 foot. I have thought about forming these 2 thick so they can be about 1/2 inch thick and bending them to form an arch. Maybe I would make a jig on the ground, bend them into the arch and then practice with fiberglass or epoxy resin to bond them. I will think more on this.

This is of course the beginning of the big project. Next after the shop is complete, I have to decide on either locating a solid timber for the keel or laminate up 2x8's x 16 or 20 foot probably to make a full keel of 8x12 and 23 foot of so not including the stem etc.

After that will be the lofting. Seems simple but actually doing it will tell the whole story.

Till next time....Fair winds and following seas!

Boat plans

 The research

This all started from researching plans on the internet. I originally wanted to build a Catamaran of fiberglass. I quickly came to the realization that transporting such a thing would be insanely priced. So I went on researching monohull sailboat plans. While I found many that seemed to be suited for what I wanted to build, they were a bit costly in my opinion.

The source

I happened across George Buehler Designs. Here is his plans page: http://georgebuehler.com/photothumbs.html While still a bit pricey for me, there was a lot of good information there.

George takes a no nonsense approach to boat building. His boats are designed to take almost anything that can be thrown at them. Designed with simple systems that a sailor should be able to repair at sea. I bought two of his books. The Troller yacht book, and Buehlers backyard boat building. Both have great information in them, and they can be found on Georges website.

 In Georges boat building book, he also includes several free plans of successful and tried boat designs. The plans have been scanned but some of the details are very small. George states in his book that he will send more legible copies of the plans if you just ask. To be fair, you should really buy the book first.

The plans

The plans to be used for SV Sojourn will be based on the 35 foot "Juno" plans designed by George Buehler. These plans are in his book and is a trusty design. Here is the page for Juno http://georgebuehler.com/juno.html

These are the particulars:    

LOD: 35'6" Beam: 10'7" Draft: 5'6" Displ.: 22,000 lbs

 I am still trying to decide whether to go with store bought dimensional lumber or buy a chainsaw mill and cut my own trees here on my property and mill to the sizes I need. The problem with milling them myself will be the drying process of almost a year. I am also still deciding whether to go with a conventional sailing rig or junk rig. I plan to be single handing the boat so ease of operation is the primary concern.

In any event it should be an exciting project. I know it will take lots of time as not only does the materials need to be obtained and assembled but also I need to acquire the tools to do the task at hand. I don't have much of a budget but I will do what I can with what I have.