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The crane was scheduled for Tuesday morning.  I got up, as usual, just before 6; at almost the same moment, I became aware of the sound of a big diesel engine.  Peering out the window, I saw the crane had arrived and was backing in the driveway.  Wow!  The big day was finally here:  raising the walls and roof trusses by crane, the modern equivalent of a large group of Amish farmers in floppy hats.  At long last, I'd be able to see what the barn was going to look like.

Click here to see more about the crane and raising the walls.

Visible progress on the barn slowed dramatically after Tuesday's big barn-raising event; inevitably, this is the case in construction.  Bob and Rod sheathed the back and front walls up as high as the gables, and that pretty much took the whole day.  Thursday featured heavy, steady rain through the morning, and therefore no work could be done on the barn.  It was disappointing to have no work accomplished, but such is life.

While it rained, I worked on materials lists for those portions of the job that I'm doing (windows, insulation, doors, electrical, finish work, etc.) and prepared to go to the store to pick up a load of project and electrical supplies.  I picked up 750' of 14/2 cable, 250' of 14/3 (for three-way switches), and all the outlets, switches, and boxes that I needed for my electrical plan.  Later, I redrew my initial rough schematic in order to make it easier to follow once I got into wiring (hopefully next week sometime).

Work on the barn continued Friday, with Bob working alone on some of the smaller--yet critical--details:  anchoring the walls to the slab (they were only temporarily nailed in place), adding necessary framing to the gables so that sheathing could be installed, and myriad other details, all of which helped the progress march--albeit slowly--onward.

Click here to see more detail on the week's barn work.

Unfortunately, no work was performed on the boat itself this week.  Although there is still a fair bit of grinding to be done before any new construction can begin, I felt that the pressure was off--I had gotten rid of the worst of the interior grinding, and believed that the boat was ready to be moved into the barn whenever possible.  Besides, my free time has been taken up this week with barn stuff and sailing.  Over the coming few weeks, I expect that this trend will continue, as I have an ever-growing list of projects on the barn to complete, as I try to finish as much work as possible before the boats go inside early next month.

As fun (and interesting, I hope) as the barn construction is, it is not really the focus of this site, or the Daysailor project.  It has been dominating my thoughts lately, but soon enough it will be complete, I'll have my new shop set up, and I can get to some serious work on the boat.  That was, after all, the whole point of building the barn in the first place!  

Surprisingly, Bob arrived here bright and early Sunday morning to work.  I guess he was feeling like he wanted to get some progress made on the barn, as I know he's looking forward to being done as much as I am; he has other things to do and of course would like to wrap the job up.

By himself, he completed the final tier of sheathing on the front gable and then set up new staging on the north wall, from which he began the roof sheathing.  By early afternoon, he had about 3/4 of the north roof sheathed--an excellent accomplishment, I think.

Click here for more information on the barn's construction progress for this week.

While Bob worked on that, I set to work grinding more of the inside of the hull on the Daysailor.  Switching to my soft pad and 40 grit discs, I sanded as far forward as the main bulkhead on both sides; all that remains is the forward sections of the boat.  A mountain of dust remained.

Later in the day, after Bob had left, I decided to go ahead and cut out the openings for the clerestory windows on the south wall.  I knew I'd be installing all seven windows, and figured this was as good a time as any to cut the openings free.

Thursday  was wiring day.  I enlisted the help of my friend Nathan to pull wiring and help with the rough in, so between the two of us we  accomplished quite a lot over the course of the day.  Earlier in the week, over a couple evenings' work, I had installed all the boxes in the walls and ceilings for the electrical system I had drawn up, so our work mostly involved shooting holes through the studs and pulling wires according to my circuit plan.  By the end of the day, there was still work to be done, but we had pulled nearly 700' of 14/2 Romex and wired over 20 wall outlets.  On Friday, I had an electrical pull the new 4-conductor supply cable out to the barn through the conduit, and revamp the house's main service panel so that the shell of the old panel could be installed in the barn.  While that was going on Friday, I worked on more of the barn wiring and installed more outlets and other odds and ends (I was in need of more wire, which I didn't have on hand, so I worked on whatever I could do).  Then on Saturday, armed with lots more wire and other things that I needed, I worked the whole day and got nearly all of the wiring installed and ready for installation in the panel.

Click here to read more about the wiring and electrical.

Bob got the roof shingling underway on Thursday and Friday, bringing the barn closer to being weather tight.  It's a big roof, and progress was slow with Bob working mostly alone, but little by little the job is getting done.  I'm looking forward to the roof being tight so that I can get insulation installed  before October 8, the day that the boats will be transported into the barn for the winter.  It's going to be a bit of a time crunch all around--isn't that always the way?  It seems all projects tend to expand, lengthwise, into the time available, however long or short it may be.  The month is half over, and there's a long way to go in the project.

I'll post more details on the roof and trim when the job is more complete--probably by the end of next week.

Log for the Week Ending September 21, 2003

Sunday, I wired up the barn's main electrical panel.  I had hoped and intended to do it Saturday, but I had forgotten Saturday morning to pick up the breakers I needed, so I had to return to the store later Saturday to pick them up.  I had enough to do to finish up the rough wiring that this wasn't a significant setback; as it was, I barely had enough time on Saturday to complete all the rough wiring.

Click here for more on the electrical system in the barn.

I was anxious to have all circuits completed--i.e. all hard-wired fixtures installed--so on Monday I picked up a gable light, exterior lighting, and a few other odds and ends needed to complete the system.  I also had to purchase a new 32' fiberglass extension ladder, as an old aluminum one I had borrowed turned out to be scary; the big ladder is required in order to reach the gables, roof, etc., so it was just one of those things.  Meanwhile, Bob was at work framing up the back (west) gable end and working on the sheathing.  Unfortunately, he ran just short of the T-111 near the end, and the local lumber store didn't have any in stock, so he had to bring that down the next available day to finish the job.

Tuesday brought heavy rain--unexpected rain, as they had been predicting showers.  Another strike for our esteemed forecasters.  Anyway, no real work was accomplished Tuesday.  I went out to the barn when it started pouring, because I was concerned about leaks harming the electrical installation.  Indeed, rain was pouring through the ridge on the roof, which was wide open, and dripping through the unshingled side of the barn.  Hurriedly, I rigged up a few pieces of plastic as needed to protect some outlets and the breaker panel, all of which were getting dripped on.  Later in the day, when the rain let up, I successfully completed the 3-way switch wiring.

With hurricane Isabel, or some portion thereof, due here on Friday, I implored Bob to try and finish the roof before then, in case we got a lot of rain.  So Wednesday and Thursday were busy days for him:  on Wednesday, he completed all the roof trim (required before applying the shingles), and on Thursday he got the north side of the roof completely shingled.  Friday morning, before any rain, he installed the ridge vent and cap, completing the roof.  And just in time, too, as late in the afternoon we received some moderate rain, courtesy of the hurricane formerly known as Isabel.

Click here to see some details about the roof and trim.

Because Bob gives me a very fair deal on materials, I ordered insulation, workbench materials, and barn door materials through him, and this was all delivered on Friday and placed inside the barn.  It's apparent that I have my work cut out for me!  I looked forward to installing insulation over the weekend, though Bob had to complete strapping the underside of the trusses before I could begin.  

Also on Friday, I installed the five windows in the back wall (you knew it was coming, didn't you), and installed the entry door on the north wall, which had been delivered along with the other materials earlier in the day.

Click here to see the new windows and door.

After straining his back on Friday, Bob was back on Saturday, along with his helper, to get the strapping installed on the trusses.  The strapping (3/4" pine) stabilizes the trusses, stiffens the structure, and provides a surface on which to rest the ceiling insulation.  It took forever, and since it was too damp outside to stain (which I had been hoping to begin), I really couldn't do a thing inside or outside the barn all day Saturday, which frankly drove me nuts and left me in a dark mood since I had really intended to be able to do something.  Sigh.  

The strapping was done by about 1530, and I immediately set to work on the insulation in the attic.  The process was well underway by late Saturday evening, and I planned for full days on Sunday and beyond as necessary to finish the insulating/vapor barrier job.  Look for full results next week.

Click here to read more about the insulation.

Well, once again it was all about the barn.  For those of you who are bored with barn stuff, hang in there.  Boat work will be coming, I promise!

Some of you may notice that this log was posted early, on Friday.  I had to leave for the weekend, so I took care of the update early so as not to leave anyone hanging on Sunday.

With Glissando's haulout day--and the day the Daysailor hull gets moved into the shop--fast approaching only a couple weeks away, I worked feverishly to get as much done with the barn as possible before then.  The barn is at a point now that even if I got nothing else done, it would be enough--but the more I can get done first, the better.

I worked steadily most of the week, spending nearly all hours of the day in the barn.   I began where last week's log left off:  bright and early Sunday morning, I was hard at work on the insulation.  During the day Sunday, I completed the ceiling insulation, and moved on to--and completed--the walls insulation.  It was a big job that required a lot of cutting, up and down ladders, and shuffling gear on the floor to make room.

Click here to read more about the insulation.

By the end of Sunday afternoon, the insulation was complete, and I spent some time cleaning up the shop and preparing to install the white plastic (doubling as a vapor barrier and final interior surface) over the insulation the next day.   Monday morning, I began installing the white plastic; I worked all day, and a few hours the next completing this chore.

Read more about the vapor barrier here.

For the remainder of Tuesday afternoon, I worked on trimming out the various switches and outlets (putting the plastic cover plates on), and then turned my attention to installing the ceiling lights.  I purchased 15, 4' (2-bulb) fluorescent shop lights and installed them, one by one, on the ceiling.  Each light required some minor assembly, and then installation 16' above the floor.  Again, Bob's rolling pipe staging sure came in handy.  Over a period of several hours, I managed to complete the back three rows of lights--3 in each row.  Exhausted, I left the rest for the morning.

The next morning, I finished up the lighting early so that the staging would be ready for Bob to remove and take home; he was expecting to be finished this day or the next. All he had left was cornerboards, door trim, and some other final details.   After I finished up the last light, I dabbled in beginning the framework for my huge bench at the back end of the shop, but it was a beautiful day and I felt the need to go for a sail; I hadn't had a break from the barn in days.  Late in the afternoon, I finished up the bench frame.

Click here to see more information on the shop setup and accessories.

Thursday, I worked on building one of the rolling doors.  I began with the side door, since it is somewhat smaller than the huge ones that will be needed in the front.   After some substantial head-scratching over the barn door hardware that I had received from the lumberyard (Bob and I had to have a little conference, and even made a run to a local store to try and locate something different), I began the door construction.  Later, after Bob had left (his work on the barn is complete!!  It's all mine now...) something clicked in my mind, and I figured out the hardware.  Therefore, I was able to complete the door and get it hung by mid-afternoon.

Click here to read how I built the door.

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