What size boat shed?

[Stewart]

Gentlemen,

I come to you in great need of advice. I have an opportunity that comes along infrequently. We are building from scratch and my only requirement - a shop of my own - is in the budget.

Therefore, I ask: Is a 10'x30'x40' with a 15' opening in the end enough. I am mostly concerned with the 10' height and the 15' opening. The length is expandable to 75' because the OAL of the building will be 75' with 35' for garage space and 40' for me. Although SWMBO would not be happy parking outside for any great duration, I don't know that I would ever tackle a 60'+ project anyway.

All opinions are appreciated.

TIA,
Scott

[dasboat]

Stewart,depends on what you want to build.
Is that 30t.wide,by 40ft.long,by 10ft.tall opening that is 15ft.wide.?
I would give my left gronicle for such a space.
You can build a whole lot of boat in there.
Waddayahavinmined?
Das

[Ed Harrow]

Well here's Pete's:

http://media5.hypernet.com/~dick/ubb...ML/002348.html

I'm not certain of the height, but that's a 42' Hinckley, she's got to be standing pretty tall, 10' wouldn't do for her.

Do a quick look for "Status Check ..." and you'll see what I'm building for a cover. It stands about 17' off the grade at the ridge. Phoenix sits about 11' above grade at the bow.

So, like Das said, whatchabuilding?

Geeze, it's peaceful here, maybe I'll just hang out here for a bit...

[Dale Harvey]

It's a whole lot easier to get a completed project out of the shed, if it's tall enough to hold the vessel on top of a standard trailer. At least construct the building in such a way that it can be jacked up and kneewalls added to accomodate bigger future projects.

[dasboat]

Ed I know the feeling.
It's good though don't you think,that we have a civil place to "lay it out" before each other w/o too much condescention?
das

[Stewart]

Ok, here's some more details:

The building will be (right now at least) 75' long and 30' wide. On one end will be a 3 car garage using approximately 35'. The other 40' will be mine - No girls allowed. : ) The 15' wide opening will consist of two 7.5' sliding doors in my end wall. We have been planning on 10' high sidewalls. But I got to thinking about how tall boats can get, and am reconsidering the height. I sold my last big boat about a year ago, so I don't have a convenient way to determine how high - I need some help here. I did forget about getting a trailer underneath - oops. Also, the building will be a Morton, so no jacking or dismantling will be possible - I guess I should not have taught my wife how to use a shotgun after all.

Right now I am working on a fly fishing drift boat. Obviously, not a real big project, but who knows where this affliction will lead?

[This message has been edited by Stewart (edited 09-12-2001).]

[dasboat]

Stewart,you are funny!You remind me of columbo..."oh yea...one more thing."
Das

[mmd]

I think it is one of the constants of the universe that no matter what size you build it, the shop is never big enough. The usual rule of thumb is to be able to have four feet of clear area all around the boat (clear area, not area to put power tools and materials!), and six feet above the highest point of the sheer. This will allow working space all around the boat and the ability to walk on deck without braining yourself on the rafters. The door width seems to be fine unless you are planning to build a catamaran. The height of the interior that you are suggesting may be a bit low, depending on what you are planning to build. A smallish cruising sailboat with deep sections such as Philip Rhodes' 23-foot "Chantey" would stand almost six feet tall in her builder's cradle, and the cabin trunk adds another foot-and-a-half. If you have the option (money, zoning, etc.) I would reccommend building for at least a twelve foot clear height, and more if you can.

[jeff pierce]

Let me get this straight,
SWMBO gets a 30' x 35' garage out of this? How many cars have you got? I could fit 6 cars in that space.
OTOH, I would give my eyeteeth for the 30' x 40' space.

Seriously though, I would give some thought to increasing the height, then put in an 8' ceiling in the garage portion. This would allow for a sizable storage space above the garage and the extra headroom in the boatshop

[gashmore]

I build a 52'x24' shed for my 45'x14' project and had to add an extra 6' at the transom end to get manouvering room. My beam is 14' but I have 2' of staging down each side so there is only about 6' of usable floor space. I wish I had an extra 5' down one side.

I would estimate that an "ideal" size for a large project would be 225% of the beam and 125% of the length. This works out to about a 32' LOA boat in your 40' shop.

For a larger project storage space is also a major problem. I have stacks of structural foam, 4 sizes of plywood, stacks of cherry, mahogany and teak, large boxes of veneer and Soundown and drums of epoxy. Not to mention two cabinets full of smaller parts and a corner of the company warehouse full of jigs, molds and patterns.

[Stewart]

Things that must go in to the garage portion: Compact tractor with loader, 18' dovetail trailer, 2 horse trailer, M416 1/4 ton utility trailer, 1 pickup truck, 1 jeep and SWMBO requires an area just for her gardening and planting stuff.

I am thinking that 12' or 14' may be the right way to go for the height. That shouldn't be too much more.

Thanks again everyone.

[Mirelle]

I'm probably chopping wood outside Lu ban's door, as the Chinese say about teaching grandma, but my two pennyworth is to remember that the ability to brace down from the roof, very, very often, is invaluable, (i.e. lots of rafters!) and that, if you use the building board method for setup, you need a foot of height for the board.

If the floor is earth you can dig down. If you have a ballast keel it has bolts.....

And a two foot wide bench, the length of the boat, clear of the 4ft space to one side, is nice. A bench on each side saves a lot of walking in and out of the door, carrying planking stock!

[Alan D. Hyde]

My 1961 Chris-Craft Sea Skiff Hardtop is 10' 6" tall as it sits on the trailer.

You might be happy later on to have a little extra height. Many old barns have 12'.

A deep sailing vessel or a tall power boat will both need a good amount of height.

Alan

[CaseyJones]

When finished, my new shed will be 30x36 with 14' sidewalls, a 10' overhang on one side for outside storage, and two 12x12 roll-up doors on the 30' side. Should be enough for anything I ever want to build.

[nedL]

My "shop" is 9'6" x 9'6" with about 5'10" headroom (I'm 6'), and my "boathouse" that SWMBO is allowing me to build next to the garage is 9'6" x 20' with about 6'4" head room, so I am green eyed with envey at you all. But the "boatshouse" only cost me $35 including materials from 'the mall'

[ken mcclure]

Two bits of advice:

1) make it taller inside

2) build it in my yard

[dasboat]

KW,dangit I wanted it in myyyyy yard

[Ross Faneuf]

My boat shed for Ceol Mor is 18x41. Ceol Mor is 36' LOA, 11' beam, about 12.5' from bottom of keel to top of deck. Door opening is 2 doors each of which hinge in middle (i.e. 4 door panels) width 14' max height about 16'. This is just barely room overall. Note: Ceol Mor is a tall boat; my boat hauler just informed me that I'll have to figure out how to make the bow pulpit detachable, as it's over the 13.5' over-the-road limit (broke 2 phone lines on last transport).

I have a separate 30x40 shop in the basement of the house and a separate 2 car garage attached to the house. Boat storage is all over the place.

[RGM]

Stewart, you've gotten alot of good advice from everyone. I like Mirelle's suggestion about the full length bench and overhead use of rafters for not only shoring/bracing things down but I would add also for supporting /lifting (skyhook options). Additionally, since you will most likely take on a sizable and ambitious project you may want to call your local boat transport outfit and find out how big of a opening do they need for slipping a transport trailer under your boat (while it's in your shop) and safely driving away with it. With that in mind, find out what heigths they need for safely getting under your boat with a trailer. Once you have a feeling for those requirements toss in the skyhook/overhead shoring factors and then possibly engineer your desired height and door opening from there. One more very important thing that you and I are both aware of but perhaps not the others, you are afflicted with horse people, there is no cure. However there is hope. With proper counseling and alot of money everything will be OK. Is the SWMBO the main horse person? Can she read a tape measure? Hopefully not too well. Are you a horse person? That's alright. I like horses too, I ride a little, my daughter (junior grade 1st class SWMBO in training) rides alot. Don't let your ideal sounding shop turn into a giant tack room. Hold your ground the best you can. We'll send reinforcements if needed. Good luck you lucky dog.

[Stewart]

Everyone,

I truly appreciate your advice and good humor.

Yes, my wife is the main horse person - my duties consist of brushing, driving the truck and lunging (sp?) (that is where the horse runs in circles around you on the end of a long line and you get real dizzy because the horse is running fast and the trees are whizzing by and the clouds start moving and then you fall down and the horse runs over you). I also get to fix the stuff they break, burn new holes in nylon halters and make saddle racks.

As I indicated, there will be no girls allowed in the boat shed except to bring cold refreshment from a conveniently located fridge. I plan to paint lines on the floor indicating female walk areas. No horse stuff will be allowed either. Her barn will come next year after the house is done and the fences are up - until then, one of the spare bedrooms will work as the tack room. It kind of boggles the mind how one person that can only ride one horse at a time needs three saddles and a heap of other stuff. The thing that really gets me is that you have to brush them, pick out their feet, put shoes on them, etc.... Now I am not an archeologist or ancient horse expert, but does anybody know what horses did 1000 years ago?

Of course, I have five or six saws, three sanders, two drills, screws, screws and more screws. You really should have seen her face when she bought me two gallons of E*$xy. Wow, did she freak out or when I came home with some marine plywood. (Please, no comments regarding my building style - I am just getting started. I will do it the traditional way soon enough, for now I am just having fun turning money into sawdust.)

[Wilson]

I've just started laying the floor joists for my boat shed of 24x 40 x 10 walls (14' in the peak). My design is a 25' canoe yawl by David Ryder-Turner.Because it will be a new space it will not have a chance to be crammed to the roof like my present 16 x 20' one at present so I am looking forward to starting the boat.

The one thing that I am concerned about, and that no one touched on, is the lack of interior support of these buildings.
I also want to have the max height possible so it will be a ridge pole roof, also planning two 7' x x10' doors on one end.

The problem with this is that you end up with the cardboard box syndrome with the end opened up. Many double door garages in residencial homes suffer this same problem. I life in an area where the wind comes up pretty strong, (where dosen't it living on the coast) .

The building will be sitting out on my wharf and will be constructed using 10 x 10"'s for the foundation and with 2x6's for framing, the walls will be strapped and covered in a fairly heavy gauge of sheet steel siding.

Thinking of perhaps putting some short braces on a 45 Degree (from each stud up to the rafter,) also a great place to store all those little strips that invariably accumulate. Anyhow just thinking out loud, cheers...

[dasboat]

Stewart,I like that girls walk zone idea.Here's to being forever 9yrs.old.
scuzz me,gotta lay low for a moment....."nothing honey,just messing around on the computer"....there,she has cyber ears.Seems like she can hear what I type.
Any way,good going.
Das

[ken mcclure]

Originally posted by Stewart:
It kind of boggles the mind how one person that can only ride one horse at a time needs three saddles and a heap of other stuff....

Nah. I can understand that. I haven't even finished the framing on my boat and I've already positively identified two more that I will not be able to live without.

Let her have as many saddles as she wants. That way when you go for more boats, you can just point to the saddles and say, "It's just like that."

[Peter Sibley]

Well my boat is 33' on deck ,shed length is 40' which is OK but what I can't do is stand up on deck 'cos the roof trusses bottom chords are only 13' from the ground.Try to get standind/working headroom on deck of the biggest boat you may build.It would be nice be able to end for end a plank ,say 24' long without having to go outside too!

[Wilson Fitt]

Here's my 2 cents worth. My boat is 38 1/2 long by 10 wide and I built it in a bow framed plastic shed about 44 long, 18 wide and 18 high. Building time was 5 years with a new plastic skin applied to the shed each season over the old one. We were pretty exposed to the wind with about 4 miles of northerly fetch across the bay and the local fisherman figured that the shed would blow away the first good gale but it held up fine, flexing in an alarming way and developing a serious case of leech flutter sometimes. Actually, I think half the local folks thought I was raising a crop of hydroponic dope with the lights blazing in the night.

The weakness in the bow roof shed theory is that as it goes up the shed gets narrower and the boat gets wider, so this thing was just barely big enough. Couldn't walk upright on the side decks and think that I'm permantly hunchbacked as a result.Also couldn't stand back and get a look at the ark, so the tension leading up to the big unveiling was interesting. The shed came down in an afternoon and thankfully did not reveal a lumpy sheer or a droopy bowsprit. The other problem with the temporary shed is that there is nothing overhead with any rigidity to attach to to set up the molds. The perfect shop will have a big beam overhead to push down against, brace moulds on and hoist engines from.

I didn't put a floor in the plastic shed and regretted it when spending months slogging around in half frozen mud.

The plastic shed was attached to a 24 foot square worksop that was crammed with tools, parts, wood, broken bicycles, disassembled lawnmowers, gardening tools, camping gear and other unidentified detrius. Space was a real problem, wood storage especially. I don't know how many times that I turned that pile over, reorganized it, cleaned it up .... Go big or stay home!