The Boathouse

In thinking about where to build this boat, I have a couple of options. One possibility might be the basement, pictured here:

and here:

As you can see, the front half of the basement is filled with exercise equipment and a play area for our toddler.  The rear half is the laundry "room."  And neither is very big. A 14' kayak could be built here. There is light, there is heat (necessary for curing the epoxy), and there is a door through which to remove it once it's been built; but a boat built here would truly be in the way. This is much used space. So...no go.

The only other viable option is the garage, pictured here from our back deck:

It's a single car garage, which we use entirely for storage. You can see our 17' sea kayaks hanging on the outside wall. Which means, of course, that our garage is just about exactly 17' from front to back.  But take a look inside:

On the left...garden and lawn care supplies and behind that, hockey equipment, golf clubs, and my bike. On the right...more lawn care tools hanging on the wall, 2 bikes, and behind them, some large tools, including a circular saw and a table saw.  In the way back, on the shelves, which are about 3' deep, mostly camping and boating equipment. And, in the center, a long ladder, an inflatable kayak, a snow blower and a lawn mower.

And this is "neat."

From the front of the garage to the shelves in the back is just about exactly 14'.  It would be tight. There is no electricity in the garage, either, so it will be cold and dark unless I run an extension cord from the back deck and import some lights and a space heater. Still, it's dry. And in the winter we only really need access to the snowblower.

To build the kayak here, I'd essentially need to clear out the right half of the garage from front to back. I will probably need to be able to angle the work table diagonally so that I can walk around the kayak while I'm building it. That will mean relocating some big items to the attic or within the garage itself and getting rid of some of the others, either selling them or giving them away. 

That is where I will have to begin. Perhaps I'll even get a chance to spend a few hours on it beginning this week - after I take the toddler to daycare, but before I head to work. My hope is to have this phase of the project done before mid-September, and the work space set up, so that I can get that kit ordered. And before it arrives, I'd like to hang this sign that my wife bought above the garage door:

And then, we're on our way! If I can put in an average of 10 hours per month beginning in October, I should be able to launch by the beginning of May!