A couple of basic questions

[Kudzu]

Well it's decision time. I am almost to the point where I can start a new boat. I sold my sailboat and gave my kayak away.  I have spent the past 2 years building a house and my shop. Now I am finally (well almost) to the point where I can start a boat. I am trying to decide between the CS 20 and a wood strip Kayak, that is which to build first. I think I am leaning toward the CS-20 but only slightly.

Anyway, all that to get to my questions. I have plenty of room to work in. I am thinking of doing a bit of rearranging. How much width is needed to comfortably work around the boat? I want to keep enough space that I can still pull in a car or tractor as needed.  So this will help me decide on what if anything to move about.

Second, about how many hours are required to build the boat? Now I realize that varies from person to person depending on their skills, tools, etc. Just looking for some ball park figures. I know it takes around 200 hours to do a strip kayak, so this figure will help me decide which one to tackle first.

[Charlie Jones]

I have 8 1/2 feet clear (X 24 long)  in my shop and I have a CS 20 sitting in there. If you put casters under the cradle you can move it side to side if needed, but I'd still want a minimum of 8 feet of width.

[Kudzu]

I have a big shop, but I have a fair amount of machines in there plus wood storage, workbenches etc. I am in a basement so I have to deal with columns too.

I have been rearranging it and have most everything in place. I just finished restoring a planer, it an my jointer have never found a 'good' place in the shop. Trying to decide where to put them and that will determine where some shelves and other odds and ends will go.

I did some measuring and forgot how long 20' is! I have a space that I keep open for larger projects, like a vehicle or boat. Plenty of room to build a CS20. Since the boat will take several months and won't leave enough room to pull in a car or truck, I need to get rid of something to open up the other space.

[Terry Dunn]

I built my CS 20 in a 20' 7" by 18' garage. I had it on casters so I could push it to one side and get the wife's minivan in.

Most of the sawing was done on my deck so the garage size wasn't too llimiting. After all, I had 7" to spare once it was 3d.

A small space can work if one is motivated. The closest thing to a non hand tool I have is an $80 portable table saw that I set on top of the picnic table. Jane and I ripped 2x doug fir for all of the non plywood parts.

It is interesting where people have managed to build boats.

[Charlie Jones]

Well- my shop is 24 by 24 outside, somewhat less inside. 4 x 6 posts built pole barn style so I lose 8 inches. I have a full wood shop in there- two band saws, table saw ( Delta Unisaw) jointer, shaper, cut off saw, full sized lathe and my spray equipment table. I also have my epoxy cart in there and a 4 by 4 corner closet for packing blankets, books, file cabinet, fiberglass storage, etc. My planer lives under the cut off saw table.

Bench grinder, spindle sander, scroll saw live along one wall that also holds all the clamps and a cabinet for the sandpaper..

My full sized work bench ( Steiner) and a 4 x 5 layout table where I scarf my plywood are both in there also.

I do have an 8 x 24 lean to along one side where lives the big compressor and lumber storage The rest of the plywood stands on end behind the lathe- there's about a 6 inch place al;ong that wall. Double doors on each end allow me to pass thingas through one end and out the other should I need to resaw very long boards.

Careful attention to spacing and there's still more than adequate room for the CS 20 inside. Of course, when I was opening the butterfly it DID get a tad cramped but that was just for one day.

You just have to make sure things get put away when not being used and not allow junk to pile up

[Charlie Jones]

and with the Core Sound 17 in there we had plenty of room- the 20 isn't THAT much larger