Where to build it?

I had a number of factors to consider when figuring out where to build the boat. In order to work on a project like this, you need room. The kayak itself is 16.5 ft long. This means you need at least an 18-20 ft by 6-8 ft space. If you’ve read about building CLC’s boats, you’ve got an idea of what goes into a project like this. The construction method is called ‘stitch and glue’, which is used hold the plywood panels together of the boat itself. The second major component of the process is the use of two part epoxy resin’s. These have three uses with the project, to bond the wood together (scarf’s), fill in joints where the panels meet (fillets) and ultimately to waterproof the entire boat. From start to finish, there will be a fair amount of epoxy work, sanding, other general woodworking and polyurethane finishing work. In short, you’ll end up making a mess. Our house was not a good fit for this, plus I was not even sure I’d be able to get the finished kayak out of my basement. I choose the garage. When working with the epoxy resin, the ideal temperature would be 70-75 degrees. Given the fact that we live in Wisconsin, I needed to know how to deal with the cold weather in my unheated garage. My plan was to complete the kayak over winter to have it available for next spring.

How to warm the workspace?
I used CLC’s information on their website and it’s builder’s forum to get my plan together. I had no good heat source to start with. I was able to pickup a cheap, used kerosene heater, but that was really for my backup plan. My first plan was to do what many others do it my case, which was to rely on plastic and standard work lights for heat. I cleared out a space in the garage and started work in creation of my workspace ‘tent’. I also made a set of sawhorses and two 8 ft long tables to function as a workspace. My plastic tent would go over this. I kept a simple outdoor thermometer to monitor the temperature with my setup.

My tent is supported by two long 1x2” boards (actually several) hung off the ceiling joints in the garage. These are parallel to each other and take up roughly a car space in the garage. I needed to account for the garage door on the front side. I have two boards that were attached to the joints where the 1x2” attach to with ropes. These allow for the tent to be adjustable and easily taken down when I’m done. I opted for the thicker mill plastic to construct the tent, since I needed any possible insulation R-value that I could get.

The kayak is 16.5 ft and the total length of my tables is just 16 ft, so I have a gap in the middle. I screwed boards onto the sides of the tables to attach them together and create a longer workspace.