shantyboatliving.com

Four hours or so of time today, good progress.

Laid out all the parts and made four of each where required. Join them together and sand them to get them to match.

Then started gluing the pieces to one of the sides.

Be sure to leave space on the sides for the thickness of the bottom panels.

How Big is Too Big? How Small Can a Shantyboat Be?

Amazing. Amazing. Amazing.

Do you need to live in a McMansion, or is a Tumbleweed home more your style? More and more people are finding that the larger the house they own, the more it owns them. Seriously, exactly how much space do you really need? Have you noticed the traffic patterns in your home? Are there rooms you just don’t use? Are there spaces in your house where the sole purpose seems to be to hold “stuff”, even entire rooms, or even floors? And exactly what is the price of all that space in terms of heating, taxes, wear and tear costs, and all those hours of work required to pay for it all? If you are like most people, you could easily get by with less space, and in fact might find you would thrive in it, especially given all the reduced time and money a smaller home requires.

Exactly how many rooms does a boat need?

Boats can make wonderful homes, but the sad truth is, when it comes to costs the same rules are true in boats, but times five. Everything seems to cost more in a boat, and the bigger the boat the bigger the costs for all those things! Moorage? Insurance? You pay by the foot. Gas or diesel? In some ways you could say that you pay by the foot as well, all other things being equal. If it is true that boats are holes in the water into which you pour money, then big boats are simply bigger holes!

I’ve owned big boats and I have owned small boats, and let me tell you, small is the only way to go. They can be trailered, so you can bring them just about anywhere! With the right outboard you’ll use less gas in an entire Summer than that guy in the cigarette boat uses in an hour. And storage? How much does it cost to store in your driveway? Even if you don’t have a driveway I know there are barns that are available that will cost you under $75 a month, even close to the big city.

But just how small can a small liveaboard boat get? 26 feet? 18 feet? How about 8 feet?!

That’s our mission: design a small shantyboat, ideal as a vacation getaway, in just 8 feet. Can it be done? You bet! And for far less money than you’d imagine possible.

Check back as we work our way toward “Seattle Slough Too”, a new MicroShantyboat.

My son has been working on the workshop installing new lights and outlets… plus, I’ve been totally swamped at work, so no work on the boat since Sunday. I’ll make a go of it again on Saturday, though!

You know what I like about the Internet? It’s the wonderful people I meet, none better than Dan of the Virtual Joli project. His life has been even busier than mine, but he has still had a chance to do some updates on his Virtual Joli. Not only does this let him try out options without wasting time or resources, it allows us to get a great glimpse into the creative process of boat building… right from the start. Check out his website…. http://joliboat.blogspot.com/ and be sure to look at his past posts!

Bryan

Today I got quite a bit done, working about 5 hours. Nice to get that time. My son was cleaning the workshop at the same time, so we got some chat time in. Nice to have that, though I am ready for some alone time now!

I laid out the markings for one side of the hull yesterday, and cut it out today. Then, I started mounting the frame work to that side panel. I really didn’t have a totally clear idea of how I was going to do it, and I am not sure if this is the best way or not!

Alex had been “organizing” the shop, so I couldn’t find a thing. Basically, he set up all his tools, and moved mine under piles of stuff! In airplane construction they have you glue and then staple doublers on, making the framework light and strong. I had a kit from a test panel I got for an airplane kit, but he had moved it all, and couldn’t remember where. It had epoxy and staples. Sigh. Had to stop with the pieces simply clamped to the side. I make the other side, then make two frames for the middle of the boat. These frames are lengthwise, not across the width. I saw that was how Devlin did it on his Millie Hill, so I thought I would try.

Bought some more pine, as I was really chewing through it. Spent another $25 or so.

The clamps I bought the other day came in very handy.

My pictures are very bad, as I am using my cell phone. My daughter keeps breaking her digital cameras.

I’ll see what I can figure out so I can get better ones.

Six hours work in build so far.

Bryan

I started my build today, but life conspired to make my progress hardly noticeable.

First a family friend came over to discuss a major problem she was having with a friend, a friend going through a divorce. Then my son came to talk with us about his upcoming appointment at Children’s Hospital. If you’ve followed my Escargot blog you’ll know of his genetic disorder and operations. He’s deciding if he wants to do an operation on his jaw that his doctor recommends. He’s mixed about it, but feels that between his jaw and his teeth he can be hard to understand. I’m not sure I agree, but this is totally up to him, of course. He’s going to be twenty soon. Obviously this discussion with Lex was far more important than boat building.

Then my wife and I drove our daughter over to a gig with her band across the lake. Here’s a link to her band, by the way…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrUBuCiMkQQ

My daughter is the bass player. I’m pretty proud of her! I’ll be going to pick her up after her gig tonight.

Life is busy. Again.

Back to boats.

I started by replacing the top to my workbench. I bought 3/4 inch particle board, but should have gotten one inch thick. I can feel this sagging under my weight as I lean out over the surface. I’ll support it more tomorrow. After that, all I got done was to layout the outline of the hull on a half sheet of 3/8ths plywood for one side. I could go down and cut it now, but I want to think on it a bit more. I changed a few details in the layout. I’ll look at the markings for a while and cut tomorrow.

Total time on task today? Maybe an hour.

My design was inspired by the Dockbox of Jim Michalak. Like most of his boats, it’s rather clever, if not especially attractive. I’m pretty sure you could build one for $300, though at that price it wouldn’t be much to look at, or last for more than a handful of years.

My thought was that the boat had some real promise, but I knew I could design something that looked a bit better. This design won’t be as simple to build, but should be within reach for even the first time builder.

Let’s start with the hull. I am not a yacht designer, but I know that I should start with the intended purpose. A hull can’t be right if there is no clearly stated design goal. This little craft is for use on small rivers and sloughs. It’s way too small to be tempted by anything else. It’s not the waves I worry about so much, especially on Lake Washington. It’s the wakes of other boats. People are totally insensitive of how their wakes can really mess up a small boat. So shallow hull it shall be. I want to be able to get into the shallowest places.

And I want room inside so that I can spend a few days aboard. That means a toilet, a place to sleep, food, water, and places to put “stuff”. The toilet may be a rim with a bag that hangs below. When I am done I just cinch up the bag and put it in a forward compartment that only opens to the outside. Any better ideas? Seems the most portable.

Cooking? I’ve designed in a little compartment outside the boat on the back wall. You can seem two of them in the design. One is a single burner stove like this porta chef table top cooker…

http://www.firehousecatering.com/hp_stove_tt.htm

and the other is for a sink using a dog dish like this…

http://www.petco.com/product/105621/PETCO-Basic-Two-Toned-Stainless-Steel-Bowl.aspx

I’ve seen sinks in old boats where the water gets poured in, then by simply closing the sink, the water splashes into the draining compartment. That’s what I tried to draw.

I’ll have a small barrel like item act as a water reservoir on the roof. I’ll paint it black so that it heats up. This is the water that will drain into the sink.

I’ll use a sleeping back and inflatable bed, all able to rull up into the front under the deck.

The center of the roof is entirely open, like a birdwatcher type cabin, though mine will have panels that wll fold back. I’ll have to work hard to make it rain proof, as we get plenty of that in the NW.

I’ll be using a small gas outboard, with gas stored in a rear section that is seperate from the sleeping/standing area. I may also want an electric outboard. I’d like a battery on board for portable electronics like an Iphone. Sigh. I know. But I like my internet. Addicted really.

And then storage for water to drink, and food. I can also stop at shops along the way. The rivers I’ve been hanging out in all have stores nearby.

Trailer and launch. It will fit inside my old van, but that poor old thing is on it’s last legs. Instead, I’ll likely install a hitch on my Chevy Malibu Maxx, and buy a small trailer. This boat won’t weight much, so the 1000 pound load limit is no problem. It’ll be small enough to launch from virtually anywhere, so I intend to make a cradle so that I can roll it to where I want to launch, whether there is an offical ramp or not. That’s the benefit of a small craft.

So my next few days are a mess. I get my wife and daughter from the airport tonight. I’ll leave in a few minutes. On Friday all day I have a workshop for work, then I am emcee for the Ten Grands concert in Seattle. It’s a big deal and is sold out. Honestly, I can get all dressed up in my Tux and comb my hair and all, but even after years on the radio I get nervous. I’m meeting an old friend for dinner on Saturday, but will have a bit of time during the day. And maybe some time on Sunday! I’ll build my workbench, and then start laying out the side hulls.

dockboxb1roof-open-man-standing-outboard

Check out this video of the design.

So I’ve taken the plunge. I am going to build this little boat, this micro-shanty or micro-canal boat. My friend Dan of the Virtual Joli project, sent me word that Seattle’s Center for Wooden Boats is going to have a show for homebuilders in Seattle… a perfect goal to shoot toward. This boat is small. I Can get this boat done in time. I can. I think. I’ll try.

Why this boat?

I don’t know. Why do we like anything? Why do I think my wife is attractive? Does it help me to know why? In that case any analysis is counter-productive! To be just a little more analytical with this boat….

1. There’s something about small that I like. There something about how it breaks things down to their essence. And they are cute. Like puppies or kittens!

2. And small is affordable. Cheap to build. Cheap to store. Cheap to transport. All relatively speaking, of course!

3. And I like the idea of building many things. If I keep things small, I’ll have the space and time to do more later!

4. It’s a challenge. Anyone can make enough space in a 30 foot boat. But what about an 8 footer!?

5. I like where you can go in small boats. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone up rivers and seen a little channel heading off into the marsh or woods. What’s there? Now I’ll know.

6. I was given a 3 hp outboard. Now I can use it!

7. I actually think this boat can work for a lot of people. Wouldn’t it be nice to have several of these on a river journey? I like some alone time, so we could go off on our own, but all plan to meet at that great little bend in the river at 6pm, where we’d make some dinner together, circle the boats and tell a few stories, and then tie up in our own little section of the bend. Man, I could do that for a week’s worth of days.

8. I’d like to sell plans. Not to make money really, as I’d make them very affordable. Really, it’s just a funny little dream of mine.. make something that somebody would want. I gotta admit.. that sounds strange enough I almost deleted it. I didn’t. I’ll be honest.

So… I went tonight and bought some plywood, misc. board, a few clamps, some glue, and a new top for my workbench, which had warped under the weight of my massive drill press. It’s an old old beast that someone gave me. Homebuilt and made of massive welded bars. Heavy. And it warped my 1 inch thick work bench! I’ve moved it and will install a new top, hopefully tomorrow.

Total cost? Ugh. $180.