This might be stretching things a bit as far as keeping the discusion limited to boat building, but I just got a new CD player for my shop. I've always enjoyed listening to good music to get those creative juices flowing. Something I don't want to have happen again, is to be interupted during an important step of this boat building process. A while back, I was glueing up a set of stems and was interupted by the UPS guy, two salesmen and my ex wife.
Now, I can just turn up the music, lock the doors and be in my own little world, without any outside interuptions. I'm curious if any of you have resorted to this same practice.
Dealing With Interuptions
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Dean in Eureka, CA
- Posts: 267
- Joined: Mon May 10, 2004 10:23 am
- Location: Eureka, CA
Dealing With Interuptions
Everything will be OK[img::]http://www.mikenchell.com/forums/images ... uryi3b.gif[/img]
Dean in Eureka, CA
Dean in Eureka, CA
When I had a large workshop that is exactly what I did. When I moved and had to resort to using my parents garage to complete the canoe, the hardest part was keeping my dad away. I finally gave him the book Canoecraft to read and towards the end he became a competent helper :)
He is a contractor/carpenter by trade and it was difficult trying to keep him from finishing it on his own in his spare time :)
He is a contractor/carpenter by trade and it was difficult trying to keep him from finishing it on his own in his spare time :)
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Glen Smith
- Posts: 3719
- Joined: Sat May 08, 2004 9:08 am
- Location: Baie-St-Paul, Quebec, Canada
Hi Dean,
I hope I haven't put too much pressure on you to get the Redbird built. Many builders take a few years to build a boat. I have the luxury of working on boats any time I want. Naturally the phone only rings when I've got epoxy from the figertips to the elbows. I grab a rag and answer the phone. If it's someone I know, I tell them I am working with epoxy and can't take the time I would like to talk to them. If it's a stranger, I tell them I don't have time for them and hang up.
I don't lock the doors and usually "listen" to my tools doing their job. Have you set a deadline to get the boat done? I hope not because building time should be enjoyable and relaxing.
I hope I haven't put too much pressure on you to get the Redbird built. Many builders take a few years to build a boat. I have the luxury of working on boats any time I want. Naturally the phone only rings when I've got epoxy from the figertips to the elbows. I grab a rag and answer the phone. If it's someone I know, I tell them I am working with epoxy and can't take the time I would like to talk to them. If it's a stranger, I tell them I don't have time for them and hang up.
I don't lock the doors and usually "listen" to my tools doing their job. Have you set a deadline to get the boat done? I hope not because building time should be enjoyable and relaxing.
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Dean in Eureka, CA
- Posts: 267
- Joined: Mon May 10, 2004 10:23 am
- Location: Eureka, CA
Hey Glen,
No pressure and no deadline, believe me, the only thing I like about deadlines is the challenge and that's all. I have a tendancy to do dumb things when I'm not paying attention and interuptions usually take away some of my focus. The music does make it more enjoyable for me. I too, like to be able to listen to my tools at certain times. This new adventure into boat building is very enjoyable and It's becoming an escape from the daily stress of running my own business.(I had to do some editing here))
Maybe because I'm a first time boat builder, I'm taking things a lot slower than I usually do. At such a slow pace, I've noticed that mistakes and mishaps just about allways happen when I get interupted.
I'll give you an example, I had a "good" one this evening:
I decided that before I apply my waterline strips, I needed to get those little hull hold down blocks installed where the hull is starting to lift away from the forms.( I'm pretty sure that I caused most of this by applying too much force with the wedges that keep the strips up against one another) Well, I was shaping and glueing them and a neighbor came by to check my progress. I got disracted a bit and inadvertly glued one at the wrong elevation. Instead of leaving it alone or dealing with it later, I started fiddling with it. Not paying full attention to what I was doing, the block came off along with a chunk of one of the strips at th cove area. OUCH! my first official ding that will reqiure a cosmetic fix. (I sure hope that when Martin says to just smack these things with a hammer, I hope they pop off way cleaner than that one did)
It isn't my neighbor's fault for what happened, but I doubt that this would have happened if I had been paying more attention to what I was doing.
No pressure and no deadline, believe me, the only thing I like about deadlines is the challenge and that's all. I have a tendancy to do dumb things when I'm not paying attention and interuptions usually take away some of my focus. The music does make it more enjoyable for me. I too, like to be able to listen to my tools at certain times. This new adventure into boat building is very enjoyable and It's becoming an escape from the daily stress of running my own business.(I had to do some editing here))
Maybe because I'm a first time boat builder, I'm taking things a lot slower than I usually do. At such a slow pace, I've noticed that mistakes and mishaps just about allways happen when I get interupted.
I'll give you an example, I had a "good" one this evening:
I decided that before I apply my waterline strips, I needed to get those little hull hold down blocks installed where the hull is starting to lift away from the forms.( I'm pretty sure that I caused most of this by applying too much force with the wedges that keep the strips up against one another) Well, I was shaping and glueing them and a neighbor came by to check my progress. I got disracted a bit and inadvertly glued one at the wrong elevation. Instead of leaving it alone or dealing with it later, I started fiddling with it. Not paying full attention to what I was doing, the block came off along with a chunk of one of the strips at th cove area. OUCH! my first official ding that will reqiure a cosmetic fix. (I sure hope that when Martin says to just smack these things with a hammer, I hope they pop off way cleaner than that one did)
It isn't my neighbor's fault for what happened, but I doubt that this would have happened if I had been paying more attention to what I was doing.
Everything will be OK[img::]http://www.mikenchell.com/forums/images ... uryi3b.gif[/img]
Dean in Eureka, CA
Dean in Eureka, CA
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Daryldog
Gawkers and Stalkers
We are just finishing up two 16' prospectors which we are building in a store-front art gallery window (wood shop has a door to the gallery which is convenient) in downtown North Vancouver. It's rare that there isn't someone with their nose pressed up against the window. It's become somewhat of a performance art piece and the interruptions probably add 25-30% to our build time. In the cooler months it's OK to shut the door, but in the summer the door is open and notwithstanding a metal gate people feel compelled to come on in. I guess we asked for it!