m i a o w

An uber-cold and sporadically rainy day. I moved my work days around to spend two days helping M with the shed. It was definitely a two-person job! He had spent quite a while cutting all the side supports and roof trusses in half and welding in extra bits to increase the height and width respectively.

He then had to re-dig all the holes (remember the saga?), pour concrete in them all and mount bolty things in the concrete. (Here’s where I come in…) We had to bolt all the side supports into position in preparation for the roof trusses to be hoisted up on a crane and in turn be bolted to the side supports. Getting the side supports on to the bolty thing was one thing – getting the side supports level was another. Big thanks to our friend Spirit Level and to the little stainless steel washers we used as chocks to get them level.

M and I have been living a life of shed-building. For all the socialising we have done since the time we have moved into the trailer, we almost may as well have been in Hervey Bay. Some people get it, and some don’t.
“What have you guys been up to? We haven’t seen you for ages.”
“Shed. We’re building a shed.”
I can see their eyes glaze over, and I can tell that they really don’t understand the scale of what I’m talking about. I think they assume we’re building something the size of a double garage. But the truth is, we’re building something that’s more like a small aircraft hangar and we have spent a bomb on a catamaran kit that is sitting under tarpaulins as we (mostly M) hurry to build the shed around it.

When we bought it, the shed was 15 metreslong, seven metres wide, and three metres high. It was in Point Cook and it looked like this:

We attacked it over about four or five days until it looked like this:

And then we hired a truck, loaded it up, put the trimaran trailer behind it and loaded it up too, and drove it across Melbourne to Cannons Creek.

M spent several weeks cutting posts and trusses in half, then welding inserts to make the whole structure wider and higher. Two metres wider and one metre higher. A lot of welding. Another factor was that the shed site wasn’t great, and needed a truckload or two or fill to build it up to a decent level. This all took A. Very. Long. Time. and a Lot. Of. Work.

And then there was the hole drama.

The holes needed filling with concrete, and bolts were positioned in the concrete (pointing up) and we (after a bit of mucking around) slotted the side supports over the bolts and spent a lot of time getting the absolutely level. Which made the job much easier when it came to getting the crane to put on the roof trusses:

While I was working in town for four days last week M somehow managed to get the roof on. I have no idea how he did it on his own…

Over the weekend that’s just been, we’ve put on the majority of both side walls. The shed is now 15 metres long, nine metres wide and four metres high – which gives us a metre and a half each side of the boat and two metres in front and behind in which to work.

So that’s where it’s at, and where we’ve been.