Hats off to Dave "Rational Root"

I recently mentioned that I've ran across another blog where "Dave" is building his own boat by scratch. See his link on the left (Daves Boat). Dave lives in Ireland. It is cold in Ireland and even in the summers it doesn't get real hot I gather. If you read some of his blog you'll see that he doesn't have a garage or shop. Dave is building his boat outside... in his yard.

This post is sort of my "HATS OFF" salute to Dave.

My wife and I moved into our current home about 9 months ago. We previously lived in a house that "sucked" with a grand garage... 24' x 36". The garage/shop was actually bigger than the house ! Anyway, we wanted a larger / better house and had searched for 6 months or better until we found this one, and bought it. The point that I'm trying to reach with this paragraph is that we could have settled on many other houses (nicer houses) a lot faster... but, I needed my "SHOP" space to work on my boat. My boat was mostly bare wood at that time (on the outside) and I didn't want it exposed to the weather until it was finished.

Dave is building his boat outside... ! It's dark when he gets home from work. He has to drag his tools out to work, run power cords, set up lighting, perform his work in in the midst of half light and half shadows and then has to put everything away each and every night when he is done. This drudgery alone would prevent "ME" from working more often than not. Oh, did I mention that if it rains... or even looks like it might rain... NO WORK. He doesn't have any of the luxuries that are often "TAKEN FOR GRANTED" when working in an enclosed, well lighted, dry... heated shop where he could just come home from work and walk through a doorway and pick up his tape measure and square and go to work on his pride and joy.

And Dave is not alone in this either. I am sure that many a boat builder works under these conditions.

I would like to share some of those luxuries here with Dave and any other readers that happen across my blog.

So to Dave and everyone that works in less than favorable conditions I take my hat off to you as a salute to your perseverance and dedication. More power to you !

One has to have a place to store the many tools that one can collect... and I have been collecting for a few years... Two drill presses (stand up model and a bench top model), radial arm saw, compound miter saw, band saw ( I love this... and I use it all the time), cherry picker, combination disc / belt sander, air compressor ( I waited many years for this ! ), air nailers and staplers and many other air tools like impact wrench, sanders, grinders etc..., cordless drills, circular saws and a host of many other tools.

My walls are covered with tools, clamps, gadgets and supplies that I've found necessary (or at least thought so). There are many shelves to store shop supplies like paints, epoxies, putty, cleaners, solvents, oils and on and on...

Like most small shops, I have built most of the shelving and storage devices used here, like the storage bin behind my bench grinder to organize the various grades of sand paper. My mountain bike is hoisted up and suspended in the rafters on a simple rope & pulley system. The cabinet in the corner (I did not build this) stores my books and magazines as well as my stereo system and shop music (gotta have my music.... I love music. At this very moment I'm listening to Kitaro's... Kokoro from his album "An Enchanted Evening, Live").

There are lots of storage bins / drawers for things like nails, screws, bolts, nuts, washers and so on (various different sizes). Anybody who works on things (a real "Do It Yourselfer") will eventually collect a boat load of this kind of stuff... and I like to stock many fasteners and supplies so that I don't have to dash out to the store every time I need a screw for this or a washer or whatever. I used to own my own truck (tractor trailer rig) so, I found it very useful to keep a well supplied shop. It just costs too much to pay someone else to do your work for you. Let's not forget about that ever so important "concrete floor" that my creeper rolls across so nicely............ :)

Last, but not least... you just got to have a refrigerator to keep your beer cold ! and close ! :)

Enough I say... Enough......................

Again, my hat is off to you Dave. Keep up the good work and persevere.