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I was looking for a hobby that, for once, did not involve sitting at a monitor and keyboard. So I decided to build a sailboat. Chesapeake Light Crafts sells kits. Basically, like a wooden model except 1) it's full-size, and 2) you are going to actually put your body in it and hopefully not drown. It's all thin plywood, which you assemble with wire (temporarily) and then epoxy. And sanding. Lots of sanding.

I have zero wood-working experience, so I went with the kit, providing pre-cut pieces, as opposed to buying plans and doing everything myself.

It's been slow of late, because my work area has been too cold for epoxy. I've been documenting my progress here: http://geophile.com/boat. (Can you tell I'm a backend developer?)

About that getting away from a keyboard thing: Funny how that worked out. As a complete newbie, I am very reliant on their excellent support people (phone, email, forum). At one point, I ran into a problem in which the parts didn't seem to line up with the manual. As it turned out, I had the 2.1 parts with the 2.0 manual. So they sent me the updated manual. This weird interlude was much closer to a software experience than I could have imagined.

Just checked out your blog, this is awesome! I'm going to keep coming back to check out the progress, can't wait to see a pic of it in the water.

That looks like a great boat to start with. I wanted to suggest another beginner boat;

The Puddle Duck is another beginner-focused sailboat. It's more of a sailing barge with squared off corners, but it's designed to fit standing on end inside a normal house against the wall, possibly as a bookshelf, when not in use. And it sails fairly well/better than expected given the design constraints.

Puddle Ducks are sort of the epitome of "I immediately understand how this goes together, even I can build this". It's not horribly efficient, or pretty, but it's designed to be built by anyone in a weekend and get you out on the water by sunday night. There is always time later to build your "dream boat".

http://pdracer.com/

I built Hull #62 back during a period of underemployment in a garage in Texas, was hugely helpful during that period. Looks like hull #1071 was recently completed in Germany.

reminds me of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optimist_(dinghy)

Puddle Duck is sort of a scaled up, plywood version of an Optimist.

Optimist is a fantastic youth one design sailboat. It is good for two 7 year old children or one teenager up to about 140 lbs.

Puddle duck has significantly more form stability, as a result you can fit one Fat Dad + their kid + a dog comfortably in the boat.

The other biggest difference (besides total passenger weight) is that with mostly 90 degree angles, it can be built with a hand saw and some nails in a weekend. Optimist requires considerably more woodworking (or preferably, fiberglass) skills.

Thanks for making the website. I enjoyed reading it. I hope you get to finish the boat soon. :)

> I realize the irony in doing more work to relax from work

I love work. Love it. I'd likely do 20-80 hours of work a week (it'd probably vary a ton week by week) even if I didn't need to have a job for income. Not as an employee, might not even manage to make money off any of it though I'd probably try sometimes, but it'd still be work.

I don't much like doing the same kind of work 40ish hours a week, week after week after week. Kinda hate that, actually. So I think doing "more work" to relax from work makes perfect sense. Work of a sort that I, in the moment, want to do is relaxing.

“‎A change of work is the best rest.”

― Arthur Conan Doyle

Brandon Sanderson has written that he attributes his productivity to the fact that he can (mentally) take a break from one book by working on another book.

I did the same[1] Great relief from work. Its worth it s weight in gold as I have a separate building to commute to in the morning. My costs £2,497. As I wanted a bigger shed split into two parts. With double insinuation and lots of power outlets. Plus a big (MDF) desk.

[1] - https://www.barwap.com/projects/shedshedshed/finished-shed/

Love that siding!

> With double insinuation

Yeah, insulated mine as well to help out with summer heat and cut the noise down a bit (don't like bothering my neighbors with power tools and such). Planning on covering the wall cavities with some 3/4" plywood soon for even more sound isolation.

Thanks.

Yep - noise as much as heat.

I have the siding, then (paper) waterproof layer, then wool layer, then plastic (condensation) layer. Then 3mm board, then wallpaper-brick-effect.

Looks great! I see you're working with a small backyard, which explains the weird 17x6.5 foot dimensions, but I like the space in which you fit your shed.

For anyone else looking to build a shed, I recommend sticking with dimensional lumber defaults (generally, multiples of 4 feet) and going as big as your space and local licensing allows. Check your local laws, but in many townships in the US, you can build a 200 sqft accessory building before you have to deal with permits and all that rigamarole. Rather than selecting odd numbers, build something 12x16 = 196 square feet.

The biggest upgrade I'd recommend to make the thing a lasting enhancement to your property rather than something the next occupant will want to tear out would be to pour a concrete slab foundation.

> Check your local laws, but in many townships in the US, you can build a 200 sqft accessory building before you have to deal with permits and all that rigamarole

So others know, I just called my city's building department and asked what the rules were. They were very helpful! (It was max 120sqft in my area and something like 10' maximum height)

I had a friend in Missouri who said they had to get a permit for a shed of any size, so consulting local regs is super necessary. Heck, the Dwellito people should already be able to help with this as a part of the sales process, having zip-code level PDFs of requirements or something.

One other thing is that the dimensional restrictions often apply only to "permanent structures." You can sometimes get away with larger buildings because in many locations if you don't have poured footings or a foundation, the structure isn't considered to be permanent.

There’s a rumor some company in SV, some time around the new millennium, was looking for a routing/router expert. I have no idea how the interview proceeded, probably done by a non SME, anyhow, they ended up hiring a guy who really knew routers, except the ones to work on wood. I think they kept him and he learned on the job...

One of the early sysadmins at Google was, quite literally, a brain surgeon.

Couldn’t agree more on the idea of woodworking as stress reliever. I am hooked with it, sometimes I got physically tired by working in the garage, but mentally I felt every minute is a treat.

BTW, awesome builds of the shed and side table!

Is it still bikeshedding if you're actually making a shed?

Nope, that's shedshedding.

Or is it shedbiking as it's more for relaxation than for work?

Did you build the shed entirely from your own design? Or did you find some useful resource/plans that helped you know what to buy and do? Seems like an interesting project, but I don't even know where I'd get started with something like that.

Search on r/woodworking, you will find a lot useful information there.

/r/woodworking is more about finishing and fine work to me, I'd suggest starting at /r/homeimprovement. heck, i wouldn't doubt that there's a /r/backyardbattlestations sub too, though!

I watched a lot of videos to learn, mostly from the HouseImprovements channel which specifically had a series on building a shed (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpJ1vJPFqImom-NN2fkBS0A). That gives the basic idea. You can find plans online easily, but I did do my own design in the end (in SketchUp).

Carpentry is very systematic; once you've learned the rules for framing walls/floors it's all straightforward from there.

Looks great!

"It's hard to describe the primal feeling I get when I'm inside this shelter I built with my own hands. For all the back breaking work of it and all of its mistakes the feeling of satisfaction is immense."

Totally get it. The making (and using) tangible things vs. abstract coding outcomes is quite a different experience.

You might enjoy the book (or Audiobook) of Michael Pollan’s “A Place of My Own”, wherein he builds a writing shed with the help of a handyman and some plans from an architect. It was really enjoyable — one of those stories you can sink into and not want it to end.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13838.A_Place_of_My_Own

Where do you buy wood? I cannot find quality wood. Basically have to go to local box store and sort through for hours.

Home Depot and Home Depot Pro have been fine for my needs. I added a 9x12 shed onto my garage, and now use as office/workout room.

Framing lumber is ok there. Even then it's a bit of a hunt and peck but you can get by. Nice woodworking lumber is a problem especially if you don't have a full shop with planer and jointer.

There's several good lumber yards in my city. When I go to buy wood, they ask "What quality do you want?", i.e., how visible is it going to be.

I had the same feeling. I'd been working on building software for so long that I wanted to build something with my hands. But I ended up building a whole house instead. It probably wasn't a good idea in retrospect to be so ambitious, but it turned out pretty cool: https://parkcitygreenhome.tumblr.com/

I ended up doing about 60% of the actual labor on a 7000 square foot house by myself with one laborer as an assistant. I did most of the foundation, framing, finish carpentry, flooring, stone masonry, siding, and electrical work myself.

FYI the for sale link on your site doesn't work.

Same! I built one in my backyard a couple of months ago, and it was one of the most gratifying things I've ever done! I highly recommend it to anyone if you're willing to put in some hard work. Pics https://imgur.com/a/11ECQWK

Awesome work. Thanks for sharing. I have a friend who is a university professor. He works as a carpentry laborer some during the week (hot sweaty hard manual work) and says that the satisfaction he gets from helping build a deck or porch is immense and helps him do better research at the university.

Well done sir! That is a smart looking shed. I love the split doors. Is it setting on a pad or pier blocks?

Thank you! It's sitting on a few 1 foot square paver stones, with about a cubic foot of gravel + some sand under each paver. Good enough for the weather around here (no freezing temps).

Ah, that was a good solution for your climate. Site prep here, PNW, would be more substantial and has always deterred me. But maybe your experience will kindle my motivation.

The small table looks fantastic! I wish my carpentry skills were anywhere near that. How did you learn?

Thank you! Just a bunch of YouTube videos and /r/diy mostly. Like all things though, you'll learn the most by accruing a pile of mistakes.

Awesome job mate! What about tools? how much did it cost to acrew all the tools needed to cut/etc.? And what tools does one need to get started?

For something like a shed you can get away with just basic tools (hammer, drill, level, etc) and a circular saw. A nail gun and compressor are nice to have; same goes for a miter saw.

That door is beautifully done.