Tensioned fabric building for boat shelter

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A30_John
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Tensioned fabric building for boat shelter

Post by A30_John »

Here's a photo of my newly erected boat shelter made by Clearspan. The building is 40' long x 18' wide x 16' high. My Alberg 30 fits nicely with 10' at the back for a work bench and plenty of room around the sides to work on the toe rail, etc. The lighting through the fabric is very pleasant. It shook off 60K plus winds during last weekend's storm without complaint. The next step is to build the front door and close 'er in for the winter.

Image
John
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Post by bhartley »

Please bring me one of these. I have been a good girl most of the time.

Your friend,

Bly

P.S. Is there a cap on how much you spend on each child????
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Post by Figment »

Fantastic!!

I love my shed, but man that thing looks sweet.
A30_John
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Post by A30_John »

I love my shed, but man that thing looks sweet.
I'd say it's an order of magnitude better than the frame with tarps I used over the last two winters.

I also considered a Stimson shed and I'd like to try building one some day. For this shelter I decided to go this route because I wanted some extra width, and I wanted a steel frame and heavier fabric out of concern for the high winds we get here in the winter.

Of course, my ultimate goal is a heated two bay building similar to Tim's first boat barn in Yarmouth. Maybe some day! :-)
John
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Post by Peter »

Wow ... if I had a shed like that I'd be tempted to move in with the boat ;-)
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Post by Tim »

Looks great, John!

How was the construction process? Could you briefly go through that for me (us)? Did you do it, or have it done?
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Post by MikeD »

Wow! Very nice. Your Scarborough neighbor is green with envy...
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Post by catamount »

What's the flooring?

Nice tent, btw :-)
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A30_John
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Post by A30_John »

How was the construction process? Could you briefly go through that for me (us)? Did you do it, or have it done?
Construction of these structures is more complicated than the manufacturers let on. I knew that going in, so I hired a contractor experienced in these structures to help me put it up. If all goes well, it's a three-day job to put up the frame, pull the cover, and put on the end wall. If things go really well, you could get both end walls on in that time.

Construction procedure went as follows:

1) Ground preparation. I have a gravel base which hopefully will be used for a larger building some day. When that day comes, the fabric covered structure can be dragged to another location to store my spare boat :-D

2) The rafters were lag bolted onto a base of 2x6" planks. The structure is anchored with 5 gallon buckets of cement with chains. The buckets were buried 4' in the ground, and the chains bolted to the rafters at appropriate intervals. After several gales and last weekend's storm, I have confidence in the integrity of the anchoring system.

3) After the structure was up and the cover pulled and tensioned, I put down two layers of tarps on the floor, had a load of gravel dumped inside, and compacted the gravel to a 5" thickness. (The tarps are used to reduce condensation from forming on the inside of the structure.)

4) The boat was delivered, and after consulting with my hauler, I'll "custom build" the front end to the dimensions required by the boat and truck.

By the time I'm done, the cost will probably be around $5,500 (not including the initial gravel base, which isn't necessarily required). I plan to cover the perimeter of the floor with plywood or rubber mats or something similar. In addition, I'm currently scoping out possibilities for the last 10' of space at the back of the building which would be additional cost.
John
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Re: Tensioned fabric building for boat shelter

Post by Bluenose »

A30_John wrote:Here's a photo of my newly erected boat shelter made by Clearspan. The building is 40' long x 18' wide x 16' high. My Alberg 30 fits nicely with 10' at the back for a work bench and plenty of room around the sides to work on the toe rail, etc. The lighting through the fabric is very pleasant. It shook off 60K plus winds during last weekend's storm without complaint. The next step is to build the front door and close 'er in for the winter.

Image
John,

I am curious how you Clearspan shed is working out for you. Do you have any regrets or things you might do differently? How is the clearance between the sloping side wall and work scaffolding?

I am getting ready to find housing for Bolero and I quite like your setup. One difficulty I am having is finding a source for Clearspan sheds in Washington state. Did you order yours from Clearspan directly or were you able to purchase it locally? How large is the packaging that it arrive in? Having been part of the assembly process would you tackle assembling it yourself?

Anyway I appreciate any thoughts or guidance you might pass my way.

Thanks, Bill
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Post by MikeD »

Off topic question: Hey, was that John's boat that Tim recently completed?
Mike
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A30_John
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Post by A30_John »

Hi Bill,

The shelter has worked out very well. I recently moved, and I was able to take the building with me to the new location. It is currently being put up again, thus providing me with the opportunity to do a few things differently.

The first thing I'm doing is mounting the building on 2' x 6' cement blocks. They add valuable height to the building and also serve as anchors. The ends will be stick built this time, and the cement blocks are useful for anchoring the end walls to.

I bought my building from the FarmTek web site (they own Clearspan) and the building was shipped by truck to my site. I didn't look for a local dealer. Unless you are very handy with putting things like buildings up, I'd suggest you locate a contractor who is experienced in putting these up. We have several tensioned fabric buildings on our property, and, while I know a bit about them now, I'm still not sure I'd want to put one up. There is an art to getting them right. I'm sure lots of people do put them up themselves quite successfully, but I've felt it's money well spent having a contractor do it.

For my purposes it has worked out great, and unless I come into some money for a larger stick built shop, it will do me. There is room inside to work around the boat comfortably. My boat's beam is 8' 9". You'd have plenty of room for a Shields.

I'll post some pictures when the building is up again.

MikeD.. yes that was my boat Tim worked on, and I'm very appreciative of the good work he did. My goal next is to tackle the dirty jobs this winter in my newly moved shelter.

John
John
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