Another Stimson

[galleywench]

To make a long story sort of short; after a year sitting in a boatyard and not being able to do any real work on the boat (a long list of projects), I finally had the time to cut in a new road on our property for my 'home boatyard'. Last December I had it trucked up and deposited on a gravel pad. After the 800 trucking bill, I didn't have alot left over for a decent shelter, so I put together a quick and dirty canopy to keep the boat sheltered over the winter. It held up fine, but since it wasn't fully enclosed, I really wasn't able to do work on it over the winter. It is cold in central NH and we get a fair amount of snow and every time we had a storm with more than 3 inches of snow I had to get up on the boat and knock it off the canopy so it wouldn't collapse. I got pretty sick of doing this and by the time spring rolled around the canopy was in pretty rough shape.

This summer was a whirlwind of kid and life related activity so I didn't take advantage of the warm weather to get things done, but in the back of my head I knew I would have to tackle the boat canopy issue because it would not last another year. I finally got in gear last month and came across the Stimson shed references while looking for shelters. After reading Chris Campbell's well documented blog of building his Stimson, I decided to go for it and ordered the plans.

Now that I am nearly finished, all I can say is: This shed rocks. The plan and accompanying book were very detailed and gave me everything I needed to build the shed (except for time, wood and a ton of fasteners).
I probably should have gone a little bit wider because it will be a little tight along the deck at maximum beam, but it is adequate and any wider and I would have had trouble getting my truck past the shed. Final dimensions are 37.5' x 14' and 15' to the peak. Like Chris's Stimson, I did a 4' kneewall to keep the width of the shed high up.

Anyway, all told, I spent about $900 (I had a fair amount of wood for kneewalls and gable ends already on hand). I was able to buy everything I needed at the local Lowe's and they were kind enough to leave me alone while I spent literally hours picking through their pile of 16' 1x3 strapping (looking for clearish stock).
As far as time goes, that is a little harder to calculate since I pretty much obsessed over it for the last month. Shopping for wood took longer than expected (~5 hours). After I built the form (~1.5 hours), I was able to knock out a 14' bow every 10 - 20 minutes. I spent the first 2 weeks doing 2-3 a night after work for a total of 26 (~6 hours). I spent 7 hours setting up the kneewalls (sinking each pressure treated 2x4 3 feet down and leveling out the top). The fun part (erecting the bows) took another 6 hours. Through bolting all the strapping was mind numbingly boring and probably took the most time (~10 hours). Gable ends took another 3 hours or so and finally putting the shrink wrap on was about 3 hours. I still haven't actually 'shrinked' it yet, that will take another 2 -3 hours, and I have a bunch of loose ends (literally) to wrap up before I call it complete.

Grand total will be somewhere between 50 and 60 hours. I feel really good about this project; with the torpedo heater I should be able to do most non-curing related tasks on the boat over the winter (read boat dismantling) and be ready for the real work once the warm weather hits.

Here are a few pictures of the original canopy and the bowshed frames up (I haven't uploaded photos of the strapped and covered shed yet), I'll post the finished pictures soon

[galleywench]

Just about finished now, just have to close up the bottom edge and shrink it and I'll be good for a while.

[Figment]

Ventilation?

[galleywench]

I haven't cut it out yet but the gable ends are framed for 2'x2' openings (you can see the framing in the attached picture). I am debating on whether or not to open these up until the spring. In the week since the shed has been enclosed, there hasn't been any moisture buildup yet. I am going to wait and see for another week or so and make the call then. I know I will need them once it warms up, but want to keep it buttoned up as much as possible till then.

I also ordered a few of these:
http://www.bigshrink.com/shopdisplaypro ... Wrap+Vents

[georgefmys]

A few suggestions that may help keep your shed cozy and dry...when you're ready to do a skirt with shrinkwrap,dig a trench-wrap the plastic around a piece of old pipe-and bury it. Then bring the plastic up about 2' off the ground and tape and heat it.Backfill a bit up to the shed and you will encourage run-off away. Also,consider solid plastic filmas vapor barrier on top of ground. A very small diameter fan at each gable end to keep air moving also helps make a dramatic difference in cutting moisture from condensation. Lastly if you still find shed 'sweats ' too much,a problem esp. when doing paint work,then rig a tent fly using a tarp or more shrinkwrap.This can go inside or outside[easier to rig outside, but works better inside] Good luck what you got so far looks great!

[galleywench]

dig a trench-wrap the plastic around a piece of old pipe-and bury it. Then bring the plastic up about 2' off the ground and tape and heat it.Backfill a bit up to the shed and you will encourage run-off away.

One side of the shed is upslope and I was thinking that it might be a problem. I think your suggestion is exactly what I need, then I can divert runoff (snowmelt can be a big problem here)

Also,consider solid plastic filmas vapor barrier on top of ground.

I wish I had done this when I laid the gravel pad... never even crossed my mind.

A very small diameter fan at each gable end to keep air moving also helps make a dramatic difference in cutting moisture from condensation.

Do you think those wind driven shrink wrap vents will be enough for the winter? I ordered one for each gable end. Maybe I will need something bigger.

[georgefmys]

Do you have 110 power near shed? If so,look at small fans [about 6'' dia.] available from grainger.com. They are cheap,you can attach to plywood and install one at each end. Problem with wind-driven, I think, will be that when you need venting most-as tent is warming, and sweating, in morning hours-there won't be any breeze!

[Figment]

Those wind-driven vents are fine for a shrinkwrapped boat, but a shrinkwrapped boat doesn't have the ground moisture source that the shed has.

I'd install those 2x2 vents right away. Devise some sort of closure for them for the times when you want to hold heat, but the default situation needs to be "Ventilation, And Plenty Of It".

[galleywench]

Devise some sort of closure for them for the times when you want to hold heat, but the default situation needs to be "Ventilation, And Plenty Of It".

Thanks for the replies, it looks like I still have a little work to do before I call finished. I am going to cut out the gable end vents today. I can add a hinged plywood door to close it up when weather is sour or I am working.