Backyard Pirate Ship - day 7

Another day at the shipyard.  Looking at the pics we took today my wife commented on how much got done today.  While I'm at it though, I've been thinking of sharing some useful tips that I've learned doing projects like these.

Tip 1:  Minimize you setup time.  I you spend 30 minutes dragging tools to the site every day then anoter 30 min. putting everything away, that's an hour lost of production.  In my case, I use a small garden tractor trailer.  As you can see, I can pack quite a bit in there and it ends up only taking me about 10 minutes in the morning and I am completely good to go for the day.



So if you read yesterday's post, you saw that I put in a ladder going to the main deck.  This morning I wanted to add another one going to the bow bunk.  So here is another tip, when building a simple wooden ladder, I like to use my router and make a small indentation into the side of the ladder.

This way, the weight of someone stepping on these steps will not only be supported by screws but by these grooves as well.

Here it is installed.

Now the next thing I did after that was finish framing the back door.

Then finally cam time to start covering the hull with eastern white pine.  I started with the back of the ship as when we stood on the main deck I found that the structure was still a bit wobbly.  After just these few pieces were put on, stability was greatly increased.



Then I ran out of 2 1/2 inch screws.  That box was new when I started, so aside from the 3 inch screws I use for the framing, I've already gone through 1200 screws.  So here is another tip, whenever I start a project and I am making a materials list, I always budget 10% of the budget on fastners (nails, screws, bolts, etc...).  Now you may be thinking that 2 and a 1/2 inch screws is a bit overkill, why not use 2 inch, or 1 and 3/4, reason is quite simple, it's cheaper this way.  Two inch screws are about 28$ for 500 at my closest big box store.  The same store has these contractor tubs on at 39.99 for 1200.  Not saying this would be the case where you live, but shop.  When screws can account to as much as 10% of your project budget, it pays to make sure you're getting as much possible for your money.

 

Back to the ship, things went pretty well as the day went on.  I managed to cover over half of the hull.

So tonight we bounced around some ideas on how to maximize the realestate that will be the bridge as well as directly underneath.  I think we came up with a really cool idea that won't need any more materials than we already have and will fit in quite well with my original structural plan.  I'll be working on that tomorrow then Sunday I think we may take the day off.

To be continued....