leclaire

Looks good, Eric. I would agree with using the shorter pieces rather than the full beam approach. No one will see it after laying down the deck anyway. Good idea.
 
Bob

I am finally getting close to the end of my Thistle build after two years.
 
The hurricane deck was finished with the addition of fire buckets and the bell.
The boiler deck had "Official Notices" in 2 height font attached.  A ladder to the pilothouse was added along with the two ladders attached to the railings.  The latter were the federal fire requirements after the General Slocum disaster.
The main deck had the canvas coverings attached above the bulwarks, although they are hardly noticeable. Firehoses were added to the underside of the boiler deck.  The firehoses were located under the hurricane deck in the early years.  The change may have also been a requirement due to Slocum. Safety ropes were affixed to the boiler and engine superstructures.  Lastly, kevels (a/k/a cleats) were attached  to the main deck.
 
So what is left is on the main deck at the bow.  A capstan, anchor, bulwarks and jackstaff are still needed to finish the project.  But again, during summer, modeling takes time. I hope to finish in August - the month Thistle (as the J.H. Crawford) was launched in 1894, and as Thistle was sent to the breakers in 1915.    That I started and finished the build and will finish it in August is pure coincidence.
 
 

Thanks for the explanation Brian. Makes sense for what you are building.
 
Bob

Brian,
 
At the risk of exposing my ignorance, what is a mini-split unit? Obviously it has something to do with air conditioning and seeing two boxes suggests the split reference. How does this work in your case with one room to cool.
 
Bob

Love the ceiling tiles. That's gonna be one spiffy workshop, it'll be neat to see the future projects that emerge.

More progress on the shipyard.
 
Day 17: The ceiling tiles arrived right on schedule, beginning the tedious process of getting them installed. Each tile is glued and stapled into place, just to make sure it doesn't come down on me. I decided to forgo the use of the track system to hang the tiles on since they take up an additional 1/2" and my walls are already short enough as it is.

 
First few courses going in. Making sure that they maintain a straight line is the most difficult challenge, but so far so good.

End of a long day and I'm halfway there.

 
Day 18: Finally finished with the ceiling. 


 
Day 19: Not much work here, but I did get the bead board installed where the bookcase is going. This will eventually be painted either black or a dark gray once the shelves are installed. I will also be using a couple of these shelves as a display case for my Chaperon & KotM kits.

 
Day 20: The AC works great and keeps the room ice cold. It's almost hard to go outside with the comfortable working conditions in here. Unfortunately I am not getting the most efficiency out of the unit with the blue tarp strung up over the door opening, so I decided it was time to get working on the door.
 
I kind of wanted to go with rustic looking "ship-like" door so I figured I'd build it out of 2x6's. 

 
Each board will be glued together and held in place with biscuits.



 
Most of the inner part of the door is glued together, I installed some clamps and braces to keep it flat. Now to let the glue dry and setup.

 
While the glue dries, I wanted to get a better idea of the bench layout so I drew everything up on the floor. Hard to see the chalk lines, but I think I'm going to have plenty of room to move around.

 
This is where I am at now. I still need to finish the outside panels of the door and work on the framing. One thing is for sure, this door is going to be heavy. Good thing I pre-planned and beefed up the frame opening. It will definitely be a true test of my engineering skills.
 
Thanks again for stopping by.
 
-Brian

I tend toward the tan to mid brown colors but hey, that's why they make chocolate and vanilla. There's only one person that it needs to please and that's you! 
 
 Now you're going to have a heater/AC and paneling making you feel all cozy.......are you putting a recliner and a TV out there too? 

Thank you Eric. 
 
For now the plan is to just turn the unit off when I’m not in there, but that plan may change. I’ve got the room well insulated so I’m hoping that it will retain some of the heat/cooling, but that remains to be seen, so I’ll play it by ear. It helps that the unit can be controlled via wi-fi so I can monitor things remotely and adjust them as needed when I’m not there.  
 
As for the temp settings, I know the AC will go down to 60, not sure of the heat. Since it is a heat pump, I would assume the inside temp would be relative to the outside temp, but all I really need is for it to stay a comfortable 72 in the winter and I’ll be fine. And just like any typical guy, I haven’t read the instructions (and possibly threw them away during my cleaning spree) so can’t say for sure what the temperature range is. 
 
-Brian

Thanks for the explanation Brian. Makes sense for what you are building.
 
Bob

Thanks for the explanation Brian. Makes sense for what you are building.
 
Bob

Thanks for the explanation Brian. Makes sense for what you are building.
 
Bob

Thanks for the explanation Brian. Makes sense for what you are building.
 
Bob

Thanks for the explanation Brian. Makes sense for what you are building.
 
Bob

Thanks for the explanation Brian. Makes sense for what you are building.
 
Bob

Thanks for the explanation Brian. Makes sense for what you are building.
 
Bob

Mini-splits are great, years ago we removed our furnace and installed a couple instead. They're more energy-efficient and eliminate using all that ductwork that can get dirty/dusty/moldy. Won't work for every house design (e.g. if you have lots of isolated rooms) but we have a fairly open floor plan that allows air to circulate (installing a few ceiling fans helps with this). We heat primarily with wood but the units provide a backup, and are far better than window A/C in the summer. Plus it's easier to close off rooms we don't want to heat/cool as much (such as spare bedrooms) by just shutting the door, rather than closing a vent but still having all that hot/cold air blown through ductwork to a dead end. Definitely a great choice for a setting like Brian's.

Roger, since we live in the country and this room is out in our barn, I wanted to make sure that I could keep out as much of the creepy-crawly critters as I could. The wood sheathing has some gaps in it, so they can get in through there, but the taping and mudding should help seal some of it off. I also spray foamed some of the bigger gaps and caulked under the toe boards as an extra precaution to help protect the exterior walls. It may be a little extreme, but I wanted to do it right. 
 
-Brian

Hey Bob, a mini-split is basically a scaled down version of a home heat pump unit. There is an outdoor condenser with the cooling/heating unit inside the room. The two units are connected by copper tubing and control wires. This particular unit is a 1 ton designed to climate control about 550sq ft.  More than enough to keep my little 240sq ft comfortable. It is also a lot more energy efficient than a standard window unit. Nice part about it is it has a feature where I can control it from my cell phone so I can warm it up or cool it down before leaving the house. 😁 Gotta love that modern technology. 

-Brian

Brian,
 
At the risk of exposing my ignorance, what is a mini-split unit? Obviously it has something to do with air conditioning and seeing two boxes suggests the split reference. How does this work in your case with one room to cool.
 
Bob

Brian,
 
At the risk of exposing my ignorance, what is a mini-split unit? Obviously it has something to do with air conditioning and seeing two boxes suggests the split reference. How does this work in your case with one room to cool.
 
Bob

Brian,
 
At the risk of exposing my ignorance, what is a mini-split unit? Obviously it has something to do with air conditioning and seeing two boxes suggests the split reference. How does this work in your case with one room to cool.
 
Bob

Brian,
 
At the risk of exposing my ignorance, what is a mini-split unit? Obviously it has something to do with air conditioning and seeing two boxes suggests the split reference. How does this work in your case with one room to cool.
 
Bob

Brian,
 
At the risk of exposing my ignorance, what is a mini-split unit? Obviously it has something to do with air conditioning and seeing two boxes suggests the split reference. How does this work in your case with one room to cool.
 
Bob

Brian,
 
At the risk of exposing my ignorance, what is a mini-split unit? Obviously it has something to do with air conditioning and seeing two boxes suggests the split reference. How does this work in your case with one room to cool.
 
Bob

Time for another update.
 
Day 11:
With the extremely appreciative help from my boys we were able to get all of the ceiling drywall put up. It took the better part of the day, but it is done. I was even able to talk them into putting up the ceiling insulation as well. I guess I raised them right.


 
Day 12:
Back to working solo. Today was taping and bedding. Another slow process. I tried as best as possible to minimize the amount of seams in the drywall, but there was still al lot to contend with. I have a few more seams on the ceiling to finish up with, the overhead work sure takes it's toll on the shoulders and neck.

 

 
Day 13:
As I was typing this, the delivery truck showed up with my mini-split unit. Just in time, the days are really starting to warm up.

 
Looking forward to this nice long weekend coming up to finish the taping and getting the AC installed. I might even be able to start detailing the walls. Thanks for stopping by.
 
-Brian