BCVSP Picture Gallery - Boat Shed Pictures

Hi there! Welcome to the boat shed picture gallery!

Here's where you can check out the boat shed building in action. All thumbnail pictures are clickable and will bring up a full size picture.

This page has these sections:

• About the boat shed (text only)
• Clearing the site (pictures)
• Building the floor (pictures)
• Building the frame (pictures)
• Building the roof (pictures)

About our boat shed

We decided to build a 24'x64' boat shed with 8' walls and a gently peaked roof. That gave us some space around the ship given a beam less than 10' and a length of 40'.

After having looked at a number of options, we concluded that one of our greatest assets is free labour. (Ah, the joys of volunteer work...)

Other options like buying a tent or even a greenhouse frame was more than we felt we should spend.

The solution for us was simply to go out and buy a load of recycled 2"x4"s other material and throw up our own structure.

We've laid the floor out with stringers on 4 foot centres. Then we laid stringers on top of that on 2 foot centres. That consumed pretty much 1,900 feet of 2"x4"s at $.15 per foot.

We scrounged 30 sheets of plywood and bought 20 recycled ones at a great price. That did the floor. The Scandinavian Centre gave us 20 good sheets of plywood left over from some other project.These we laid down in one section to make a lofting surface.

One of the members led us to a great stack of OSB boards (oriented strand boards, also known as wafer board) slated for the dump. They were ours for the taking and which will do fine for siding. At the same source, we also picked up 64 rough 8 foot lengths of 2"x4"s. That's a good part of the wall frames right there.

For the roof trusses we need three 14' 2"x4"s and plywood gussets. We'll need 11 of these, roughly on 6' centres. So we went back and bought another 1,100 feet of recycled 2"x4"s for this and the rest of the wall frames. We may have some to spare, but at only $.10 a foot for this load, we're not too worried.

We've found a tarp manufacturer who will custom make a white 30'x65' tarp for us at a reasonable price. That'll take care of the roofing.

Bottom line: we're probably putting up this shed for less than CAD $1,000 using only recycled wood. And that's way ahead of budget.

Clearing the site

The BC Viking Ship Project building site is at the Scandinavian Community Cultural Centre at 6540 Thomas Street in Burnaby, BC, Canada. The centre was originally the Norwegian Seamen's Church, but was purchased by the Scandinavian community and expanded into a sizeable community centre complete with meeting rooms, library, banquet room, kitchen, bar, lounge and soccer field. The centre is organized into four house societies: The Danish House Society, The Finnish House Society, The Norwegian House Society and the Swedish House Society. The Icelanders are associate members who also have a centre of their own. You can find out more about the Scandinavian Centre and the different house societies at their beautifully designed web site. © Picture copyright 2001 Preben Ormen

We were lucky enough to find a suitable corner spot for a boat shed. As you can see, it's located right next to the soccer field. We think we are quite fortunate to be able to run the project here at the Scandinavian Centre. So many people come and go here during the week and it makes it easier for us to keep everyone informed about how we are progressing. We get a lot of visitors on Saturdays when the work parties are in action. © Picture copyright 2001 Preben Ormen

We start the ground work for the boat shed. The first order of the day was to cut the grass and weeds back so we could see the ground and figure out what needed to be done. So Kris got busy with the weed eater. © Picture copyright 2000 Peter Jensen

We decided to shave the high spots, fill in the worst low spots and work around the rest by blocking up the frame as required. The turf was really hard to cut so this was indeed an agreeable solution. That's Kelly pounding the turf into submission, by the way. © Picture copyright 2000 Peter Jensen

The odd tree had to be moved. We stuck them closer to the berm. Jim's busy getting ready for another transplant. © Picture copyright 2000 Peter Jensen

The site sloped slightly from front to back. The far back corner needed some serious work. Mikhail is looking like he is wondering how he got stuck at that end of the project. © Picture copyright 2000 Peter Jensen

While we toiled, others played. That's Chris toiling and the soccer school playing (in the background), in case you wondered. It was truly a glorious June day. The Scandinavian Centre is much used for events of all kinds. Space isn't usually much of a problem when you have a whole soccer field to roam around in. © Picture copyright 2000 Peter Jensen

A nice shot with the Scandinavian Centre in the background. We're looking at the front of the site where the high spots are getting a thorough examination. © Picture copyright 2000 Peter Jensen

We have a confab and declare the site prep "Good Enough!" The framing crew will have to take it from here and use their imagination to even up the floor. The main thing is that the floor should be flat. It doesn't actually have to be level. We're not building a watch here. © Picture copyright 2000 Peter Jensen

Building the floor

The day of our second work party started out a very typical BC day: Rain and drizzle. And we were supposed to start framing the floor. But never no mind. We had managed to get a load of 2"x4"s on site the day before so we had something to start with. One crew went off to haul the rest on site while the others started laying out the frame.

We didn't have access to power at first, but the struggle with wet lumber and old hand saws strained our patience. Eventually, we rustled up a screwdriver and took the hinges off a locked outlet box. Things went a little faster after that.

Our cameraman didn't get his shutter busy until the weather cleared up some. By then most of the work had been done.

Still, the pictures we do have gives us a perspective of our accomplishments that day. As the frame was getting near done, we came up short on 2"x4"s. Despite their rumblings that they were getting "tired and stupid", the hauling crew went off with their gorilla arms and fetched another 200 feet from the recycler. A light load. Got off easy! Yea...

We laid down the whole frame in one go. 1,900 feet of lumber. The 20 or so sheets of plywood we had at hand went down in no time flat on top of it.

Not bad at all. We're getting there.

Here is a good view of the floor structure. All 24'x64' of it. Plywood is going down on one side as the framers are busy on the other. © Picture copyright 2000 Olaf Oden

The "gorillas" are back with the rest of the 2"x4"s. Just in time, so to speak. Helping hands are welcome offloading the pieces, some of which were 20' long, none shorter than 14'. © Picture copyright 2000 Olaf Oden

Now, here is an efficient crew of old pros showing us how its done! It was the end of a long day. But boy did we ever feel great about the progress. © Picture copyright 2000 Olaf Oden

Framing the boat shed

Once the floor was ready, we started on the framing. We used recycled 2"x4"'s for studs and trusses.

For the siding, we used donated sheets of OSB (oriented strand) boards. OSB is not as strong as plywood, but the price was right. Besides, this isn't exactly a monument.

There's not that much to be said about the framing part. The pictures speak for them selves.

As you can see, the weather was good. And we had a great old time putting it all together.

The framing started by measuring out the size of a complete stud and truss assembly on the floor. Once the first one was built, we nailed down some wooden blocks here and there to make a jig. From there on, it was smooth sailing. © Picture copyright 2001 Preben Ormen

The stack of trusses is growing. The studs are 8 feet and the truss is made of two 14 footers for the peak and another 14 footer as a cross brace. We put in plywood gusset pieces to strengthen the joints at the peak and two sides. © Picture copyright 2001 Peter Jensen

When the last truss was done, Kris marked off the locations on 5 foot centres. © Picture copyright 2001 Peter Jensen

Now we were ready to start putting them up. The Digital Norseman got to hoist at the peak. A true peak performance (if you pardon the pun)! © Picture copyright 2001 Peter Jensen

Mike and Al grabbed the corners and away it went. Team work does it. Up to a point. Literally. Lifting the structure was awkward rather than heavy. The infernal thing was top heavy and didn't really have the strength in the joints to be self supporting during a lift like this. We needed a plan B. © Picture copyright 2001 Peter Jensen

Plan B was to put the Norseman at the short end of a long stick. (Whose brilliant idea was that?) All of a sudden this was a lot heavier work than it looked at first. That's a 14 foot 2"x4" I am pushing. You try it sometime and see what you think. © Picture copyright 2001 Peter Jensen

All griping aside, up it went all the way. The truss and stud assembly was toenailed and braced up with siding. The end walls were 3 sheets wide. Made for easy math and little or no cutting. We had enough of a crew out that day to move things along quite quickly. © Picture copyright 2001 Peter Jensen

Al had brought along his nail gun. This made for fast work. You just had to make sure to tell the people on the inside, who were holding everything in place, where you were nailing so they could get their pinkies out of the way. One thing to remember using nail guns: they are loud. My ears were soon ringing because I wasn't using hearing guards. Time then to let someone else take over as gunslinger. © Picture copyright 2001 Peter Jensen

Well, hey. Lookee here. Three trusses up and we're starting to look like a real building! We had gotten the hang of it by now, and were progressing fast. © Picture copyright 2001 Peter Jensen

While we were busy putting up the building, Kris stepped aside and took delivery of some 1500 feet of 1"x2" battens for the roof. © Picture copyright 2001 Peter Jensen

The framing was coming to an end and we started to get ready for the roofing. We needed something tall to support us putting on the battens. So we built ourselves a sawhorse. A very tall saw horse. Not really for sawing at all, but then again... © Picture copyright 2001 Preben Ormen

"Hm. He, he, he. Go away!" The Norseman's smile is looking maybe a little forced. "Don't take our picture now!" Oh well. If you absolutely have to know everything, we just sawed through the power cord of the skill saw. Kris wasn't too impressed. "Give me your knife" is all he said. It didn't help to suggest that, really, it was a very clean cut... © Picture copyright 2001 Peter Jensen

Building the boat shed roof

The roof is very simple. We put up battens lengthwise along the trusses about a foot or so apart. This was a precarious exercise, but we got it done without any mishaps.

We had a one-piece white poly tarp custom made to fit the shed. Getting it on was actually easier than some of us expected.

All in all, we think we ended up with a really skookum boat shed for very little cash money.

Lyle and Jim are nailing on the first batten! That thing they're standing on needed some watching, but it actually worked quite well for the lower sections. © Picture copyright 2001 Preben Ormen

We took turns working top side and moved along quickly. With one person below running up the battens, it didn't take long for the crew to put it in place. The weather was still holding up well, too. © Picture copyright 2001 Peter Jensen

Kris was our Lookout and General Overseer of Everything. Here he is checking us out again. Are the battens going on straight and true, or what? © Picture copyright 2001 Preben Ormen

Well, yes and no. We had to admit to a few inexplicable curves and bends. If you don't watch the natural curve or twist of the batten and simple nail it down however it naturally wants to lie, you'll not get a straight run. You may wonder what difference could it possibly make if the battens are a little off here and there. The truth is that, to the roof, it makes no difference at all. To the builders, it's a different story. It's a simple matter of pride in your workmanship. You see, a lot of people will be going through this building looking at some of these details. Everything we do becomes our calling card, a statement of who and what we are. Since we are asking people to donate money and materials to the project, we want to demonstrate that we can be trusted to come through on our promises and get things done right. Actions speak louder than words, right? Simple really, isn't it, when you think of it like that. © Picture copyright 2001 Preben Ormen

And then we were done! With the battens anyway. Here's our fully battened roof in all its glory. If you're a sailor, you'll appreciate the double entendre. No reef points, though. Jokes aside, we felt really good about what we got done in one long session. We are almost to the point where we are independent of the weather. Which is a really big deal here on the We(s)t Coast. © Picture copyright 2001 Preben Ormen

Before we started on the tarp, some of the guys took time out to close off the gables. A very interesting crew, that was. All four Nordic nations were represented in the gene pool. The ladder monkey was obviously full of Finnish sisu that day. Please don't repeat this stunt at home. Or anywhere else for that matter. © Picture copyright 2001 Preben Ormen

At long last we could get started on the tarp. The first problem of the day was how to get this enormous thing up on the roof without tearing it or killing someone in the process. We decided to make a tarp roll and pull it up with three or four ropes thrown over the roof. Good thing we had a soccer field to work with. We unrolled the tarp, rolled the long sides back in towards the middle and tied the whole thing up with some short pieces or string. From there one, the hoisting job worked like a charm. The important thing was not to rush it and help the roll a little if it got stuck. No real force required. © Picture copyright 2001 Preben Ormen

We had stapled on lengths of two foot wide pieces of thin, closed-cell foam to protect the tarp from abrasion along the peak. Once up, we straighten the tarp roll and started unrolling it down each side. © Picture copyright 2001 Preben Ormen

A couple of people worked on the inside unsnagging the tarp pushing with a long batten. Lyle's got the hang of it, as you can see. If you look closely, you can see the closed-cell foam pieces overlapping the batten along the peak. © Picture copyright 2001 Peter Jensen

Once we had the tarp rolled out completely, we had to get it stretched out tight and aligned properly. By flapping the tarp and working gently, it wasn't that hard. The tarp is free floating and only fastened along the sides. We rolled up an edge, put a batten over it and nailed it in place. That's Jim working a nail in. I can tell by the beard it's him and not the Norseman, it's different than mine. Takes one to know one, isn't that what they say? © Picture copyright 2001 Preben Ormen

"Ta-Da!" Here's our boat shed du jour. Roof's on, everybody's happy. Let it rain! (No, just kidding.) Time to go home, though. Bye. © Picture copyright 2001 Peter Jensen

We picked up 10 gallons of outdoor stain from a liquidator, and got ourselves a nice green face to the world. We hung the carved sign we had made for the previous year's Midsummer Fest over the entrance. Looks quite cosy on a nice day, but it was - truth to tell - a bit nippy over the winter with no heat... © Picture copyright 2001 Preben Ormen

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