An urban workspace . . .

[Ancient Race]

One of the problems with Cleveland is that in the winter it's too cold to get much boat work done, and in the summer, it's too hot. Or too humid. Or, to be honest, too perfect for sailing to work on boats.

Not having sufficient property to build a workspace, for a couple of years I've been looking for a space that will not only store my three (my name is Greg and I have a problem) boats, but also allow me to work on them.

Last month I finally found a shop space. It's within 15 minutes of my home; the owner of the building is a restoration carpenter with a full cabinet shop; there's also mechanics and a welding and fabricating shop on site.



The only hang up was the door. At 10X9'10" I was worried about the height, but not the width, as the Tartan only has an 8' beam, and the other boats less than that.



The Jet 14 was no problem . . .



And the Seafarer made it . . .



And sat sweetly on her stands, out of the way . . .



But we'd had to drop the Tartan to put the Seafarer in first . . .


Because the Tartan, on her cradle, with the added width of the hydraulic trailer arms and wheels, was 9'8". The boat had to come in straight, with no room to maneuver once through the door. If she'd go through the door at all, with less than a half inch of clearance on either side.

Good thing she compressed, or that Dennis Massey of Valley City Marine Towing is awesome . . .



Now that the boats are in, it's time to start building benches and staging.

[Tim]

Looks like a great space, with lots of elbow room!

Now it's time to get to work! Enjoy the surroundings. Your life as you knew it is now over.

[Rachel]

Oh look, a sweet "family" of boats.

You sure can see the difference in volume of different beams/shapes though, can't you? Your stretch Meridian must be 26+ feet in length, and very close to the 27 of the Tartan, but what a difference!

Looks like a great space. If I had that it would be (even more) dangerous. I can already feel myself filling it up with cool boats.

R.

[Figment]

A skylight and a ceiling fan. Wow. That's a fantastic facility.
Easy access to other skilled trades will be very nice as well. Good score!

[LazyGuy]

I now have a real bad case of..... shop envy.

Here in New England, I couldn't afford the taxes on that much real estate.

Enjoy!

[deckhand]

See I couldn't do that to myself. I need the winter. The cold forces me to put down the epoxy, stow the grinder, and get into money making mode. Getting an amazing shop space like that would throw off the natural order of things. Boats need to eat...

(all that aside... awesome space)

[Tim]

Greg,

I was wondering how your shop space is working out for you so far.

[Ancient Race]

Greg,

I was wondering how your shop space is working out for you so far.

Thanks for asking Tim. The shop space is great; it's work that's interfering with the more important things of life.

I spent the first month or so getting the shop itself set up to work efficiently: building benches, a fabrication table and staging. Plus a few plumbing repairs to the hot water tank and sink, and miscellaneous organizing.

I'd removed some of the deck hardware from both the Seafarer and the Tartan, as well as stripped much of the Jet, and was about ready to go further when I ran into the holidays and an unusually heavy work load in January.

Things should settle out the first of February and I'll start posting some pics. In the meantime, I've been getting a vicarious fix here, while I work. But judging from the rise of the Frankenthreads, it's my turn to make a contribution sooner rather than later.

Greg

[Rachel]

I'm in need of a "see other people do cool things to boats in their shop space" fix, so I thought I'd see how you were doing with your Tartan 27 and the Seafarer.

Rachel

By the way, this is not a completely random dredge. I was doing some searching and the thread came up in the results. So I read it and wondered. And drooled over that shop space...

[Ancient Race]

I'm in need of a "see other people do cool things to boats in their shop space" fix, so I thought I'd see how you were doing with your Tartan 27 and the Seafarer.

Don't forget the little Jet 14, Rachel . . .

The camera's in the shop, which has been woefully neglected over the spring and summer sailing season. Here's a shot from last winter that's on this computer. Should hold until I get back into the shop next week.

Greg

[Rachel]

Thanks!

Looks like good things are happening. I see a nice set of staging around the Tartan :)